Feeling like a beautiful pink flamingo in my pink swing top on this lovely Florida afternoon. Like my earrings? Thanks eBay!
My new Ava & Viv jeans are so comfy and I don’t mind a little bit of a distressed “boyfriend” look when the holes are intentional and strategically placed.
These St. John’s Bay wedges from JCPenney are a summer essential and are a perfect step up from flip flops for dinner out.
Last but not least, and speaking of flamingos, I am LOVING my new bright pink bag from Target.
Category Archives: what i wore
Pretty in Pink, the final chapter…
This week I have featured two takes on styling a tulle skirt, or adult tutu. A classic look and a vintage look. Today’s look? A modern twist on the tutu.
You know I love a good statement necklace, and I’ve been finding some great inexpensive ones on eBay lately. The one I’m wearing can be found here.
Who says leopard can’t be a neutral?! I’ve had this pair of velvet leopard heels forever but you can find a similar pair here. 
Pink lips are one of my favorite looks and I am currently obsessed with this Stila All Day Liquid Lipstick in the Bella shade.
And of course, my lovely tutu is from the Jessica Kane collection on Cool Gal Blue and I paired it with a soft chambray shirt from Target’s plus size line, Ava & Viv.
Pretty in Pink Continued…
Earlier this week I featured a “classic” look using my Cool Gal Blue tulle skirt with a promise of two more looks to come. Today’s look is the tutu styled with a vintage look or, as the butcher call it, your Audrey Hepburn look. I’ll take it!
Thanks to the inspiration of one of my favorite fabulous Plus Size bloggers, Tanesha Awasthi from girlwithcurves.com, I found this adorable bow top from Forever 21’s plus size line. The quality and feel of the shirt is very good in comparison to some of their other pieces and you can’t beat the price!
This alligator leather envelope clutch belonged to my great grandmother. It still had a compact mirror and a 1942 calendar inside when I received it. It’s probably one of my most prized accessories.
One of my favorite beach hats, bought years ago at Kohls, just stood out to me as I gathered my accessories for this shoot. I thought it might add a nice flair to the outfit but I was still unsure about wearing it. When my two photographers from Copper & Co. Photography saw it, they said I just had to wear it. So I did!
This bow belt has also been in my closet for years but when I got this top I guess I went a little bow crazy and just had to pair the two together! Side note, I love the way the gold is reflecting off the light of the room. Photography is so cool.
Twirl honey, twirl! So there you have it, my “vintage” inspired way to style a tulle skirt. Stay tuned later this week for the third and final installation, with a modern twist to styling a tutu.
Pretty in Pink
Molly Ringwald’s got nothin’ on me! 
For YEARS I have gazed longingly (a la Andie Walsh in Pretty in Pink)
at tulle skirts on Pinterest, Instagram, and other sites. So this summer I finally decided to bite the bullet and get one for myself! I mean, you’re never too old for a tutu right?! Right. I’ll answer my own question.
I found the perfect plus sized tutu from Cool Gal Blue and decided to follow the admonition of Donna Meagle to “treat yo self”…
But now that I have it, I found myself asking, “Can I really pull this off?” and, “How am I supposed to wear it?” I thought you might be asking yourself the same questions. (I use “you” pretty loosely, as I know most of you do not, and will not ever, own a tutu…or even know what tulle is or how to pronounce it for that matter)
So with the help of my lovely and talentedphotographer friend, Ashley of Copper & Co. Photography, I thought I’d show you a tutu styled 3 ways! I decided on three looks; classic, vintage, and modern and I’m going to share one of them today, stay tuned this week for the other two!
Look #1 Classic
I paired a delicate Eloqui cream colored cropped sweater with the soft blush color of the skirt. To accessorize I wore my Honora Pearl studs from my momma, then added this beautiful statement necklace from Walmart and cream patent heels from Chinese Laundry. For my lips I puckered up with NYX Butter Gloss in Eclair. I felt girly, and pink, and pretty, and I couldn’t stop twirling. You should try it!
(Click the links in blue to get your own!)
She’s Shifty…
“Just try it on!” Words my mother (as well as Paz Vega in Spanglish) echoed countless times throughout my adolescence. It’s true though that you can never truly tell if something looks good or not until you try it on. This dress is a perfect example of this. Shift dresses usually aren’t super flattering on me as they tend to be boxy and I feel I’m better off defining my waist. But the pattern of this was so pretty that when I saw it on Gwynnie Bee I just had to try it.
City Chic
Ever have one of those insane weeks where all you can think come Friday all you can think is, “I need a drink”? I don’t even really drink except for on occasion in social settings and even I felt that way after this week. So yesterday my husband called me from work, told me he was getting off early, and instructed me to use that fancy app thing I have (it’s just open table, he’s not so tech savvy) to make reservations at our favorite restaurant in Winter Park, The Ravenous Pig, because he was taking me on a date.
So I picked out one of my Gwynnie Bee items that’s a little on the sexier side, I’d been saving it for a night like this.
Before I hopped in the shower, I even made some fast pass reservations at Magic Kingdom for after dinner. I figured since we’d already be in Orlando and it’d been a while since we went, it would be a nice surprise for the butcher, who loves going to Disney World more than anyone I know.
That’s something I really like about our relationship, we give and take. Last week my husband won first place in the weight loss competition they had going at his store. The competition came right around the time he decided to make some healthier life choices anyway, but being the fiercely competitive person that he is (still a good sport though, and always ready to cheer on the losing team) it gave him the extra boost he needed. After eight weeks of healthy eating, 20 mile bike rides, and lots of willpower, (working every day within smelling distance of the Publix bakery cannot be easy) he was down 34.4 lbs and won the contest by a mere .01% body mass index decrease!!! Everyone who entered the contest threw in 20 bucks so the prize was a nice little chunk of change. I know what I would have done with my prize money! But what did he do? He went to Sam’s Club and used his winnings to buy me two of the jumbo deck boxes I’d been wanting for storing our patio cushions, they had previously been stacked in our dining room and it was driving me nuts. Some guy huh? So the next day I got him a Fitbit (or magic exercise bracelet thingy as I call it…guess I’m not always that tech savvy either…) that he’d been wanting for a long time and was what he should have bought with his hard earned weight loss money to further him on his fitness journey. See, give and take.
Just to give you a little more background info on my loving but somewhat impatient “photographer” husband…he basically just stands there taking a million pictures and I move around hoping at least one turns out good and then I sit poring over them to find that one suitable shot. Here’s what’s really happening in these three pictures…
1. “I’m not ready why are you taking pictures already?”
2. Trying to look cute but really looking more like Bill Cosby in a Jello commercial…
3. “Ok take it already, I think this might be the money shot. Did you take it? It’s starting to rain!”
But sometimes the outtakes are actually good takes because they remind me of my favorite picture of my beautiful mama…
But this post was supposed to be about a dress, so let’s get back to it. I loved the way I looked and felt in this City Chic (hence the title of this entry) Frill Wrap Tunic Dress from Gwynnie Bee. It came with this great belt, (which looks silver but was actually gold) was comfy, and great for a romantic date night, even if that date got crashed by two of our besties, which actually made it even better! Plus, it transitioned perfectly when I threw on a polka dot headband and my Croc flip flops, I was Disney ready! Time for fireworks!
Headband Forever 21 Lipstick Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Bella Dress City Chic Frill Wrap Tunic from Gwynnie Bee Gold hoop earrings from my own collection
Sunday Style: Stripes Edition
You know I’m a sucker for black and white with a pop of red. But really any bright pop of color with black and white is ok by me, so today it was mint green!
It’s funny how years ago you wouldn’t be caught dead in a mint green bridesmaid dress but now it’s all the rage. I wonder where that expression came from…”caught dead”. If you really think about it, it doesn’t totally make sense. Not to me at least. I’ll have to get on that there interweb and figure it out.
Today I felt pretty and that’s all that matters. Not in life, mind you, there are much more important things, but just in general, if you feel good about yourself then who cares?!
Skirt: Eloquii found here Top: Ana from JcPenney (old) but this would look cute too Necklace: Walmart (believe it or not, they have a great cheap jewelry selection) Lip Color: Stila All Day Liquid Lipstick in Bella Sunglasses: Forever 21 (old) but similar found here.
Eloquiint
I know, I know, the title of this post is not really a word. But since my look is from one of my favorite brands, Eloquii, I decided to make a little play on words.
You know I can’t resist a black and white outfit combination with a red lip! This black crop top and patterned midi skirt were both on clearance on Eloquii’s website and I absolutely love them. Check them out! As with all their clothes, these pieces are flattering, comfortable, true to size, and well made. Kudos Eloquii, kudos.
meet & make
So there’s this adorable local blogger from Orlando named Sarah Khandjian, or as she goes by in the Instagram/blogosphere world, Sarah Hearts. She came up with the genius idea of getting women together to make a craft, have some cocktails, and meet some new friends. Then she got even smarter and decided to sell tickets for said get-together! Man I wish I’d thought of that!
I’d been insta-stalking her for months and every time she hosted one of her “meet & make” events, I was either unable to go or the tickets sold out before I could get my hands on one! But that all changed last night! I finally got to go along with some friends and it was so.much.fun. I even got to meet Sarah herself!
When we walked in to the large warehouse space, we were greeted by a few friendly ladies who checked our names off of the guest list and gave us a pink pizza box emblazoned with the words “meet & make” and a pair of, what seemed to be the theme of the evening, scissors. Also handed to us and adorned with scissors was a sweet little canvas tote bag filled with all sorts of goodies from local artists & business owners.
We walked past festive confetti filled balloons towards the tables and secured a spot as the space was quickly filling up with excited women ready to craft! The workstations were covered in brown butcher paper stamped with a mini scissor design and covered in confetti. There were Popsicle sticks scattered on the paper as well as little cups filled with water for cleaning our brushes with “meet & make” on the side. This girl knows how to brand herself!
Before getting started there was some mingling and chit chat as well as a cocktail station provided by Smirnoff and some treats from local bakeries. The citrus cookie sandwhiches from The Sweet Shop were my favorite…tangy, bite size, and delicious!
After enjoying our refreshments, Sarah quieted everybody down, welcomed us, made a few announcements and instructions and then it was time to open our pink pizza boxes!
We were going to be painting geometric wall art panels. When I purchased my ticket I was even given the option of the type of wood stain I wanted for my panel. The idea was to use the provided washi tape to create different geometric shapes like this…
and these…
But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t decide what shape I wanted and the perfectionist in me was afraid that the paint would bleed under the tape and ruin my design. I was in a creative mood anyway, so I decided to freehand it. Did you notice the tiny little stamp that was in our gift bag? I think it subconsciously inspired me, because this is what I ended up with.
An ice cream cone!
(Side note for my fellow Gwynnie Girls, I am wearing the BB Dakota Jaeger Crepon Full Skirt Dress and I loved it. It was super light, comfy, and silky soft. It was a little big so I belted it and added a cardigan but I still got lots of compliments and can’t wait to get the smaller size that I closeted.)
Back to the meet & make! After we finished our projects we headed, art in hand, to the gif photo booth where we created this little gem… http://www.mvbth.com/meet-make/4273 and these…
Sarah even jumped in on the fun and then I got to chat with her a bit (she also said she had seen my blog before which was pretty cool!) and we took this…
All in all, it was a fabulous event. I had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again!
Sunday Style
You know I can’t resist a polka dot. And this sweet little number from Gwynnie bee (plus size clothing rental service…if you didn’t know that- where have you been?!) had an extra sweet price, only $8 to keep it! I wore this to the baby shower today (it’s a boy so I thought the color would be appropriate) and I got so many compliments! I added my adorable cherry earrings from eBay to this SAMYA Polka Dot Dress With Collar In Blue and a pair of red patent leather wedges along with my signature red lip. We were in Tarpon Springs, Fl and when I saw this soap shop named after ME, I just had to stop for a photo op.
beauty & the butcher 