Gossip Girl style, normal person prices.

I'm not actually an avid Gossip Girl watcher, mainly because we don't have TV. However, I have managed to catch a few episodes (watch them on my computer) here and there and man do I like what I see. Clothes wise that is. Morals, well not so much.

Serena (Blake Lively) is my favorite character on the show, even though she is a wreck most of the time, she really knows how to put together an outfit. Okay, the show's stylists know how to put together an outfit.

See this little ensemble:

Serena (Blake Lively).

Let's start with the jeans. Dark, skinny jeans have become one of my favorite things ever. They make me feel tall and thin, and chic whenever I wear them. I'm sure the ones Serena is wearing in this photo cost an arm and a leg, but here's a pair you can try that won't break the bank!

Gap- Always Skinny jeans, $69.50.

I have a pair of the always skinny jeans which I got for FREE through Brand About Town at BlogHer in July. Best free jeans I ever got!:) But seriously, I wear them all the time.

Next, let's find some boots that are inexpensive, yet capture the essence of Serena's look. Where I work there are lots of stairs and wearing tall, teetery heels is not always the best idea. Especially when I run up and down those stairs every 2o minutes or so. So, when I buy boots I look for either a flat or a wedge heel, rather than a stiletto. Riding boots are great, but a nice wedge pair like these would work great also.

Steve Madden, $199.95.

What I love about Steve Madden is that you can almost always find the item for less somewhere else. Hit Macy*s when they have a sale and you are sure to find a good deal on Steve Madden footwear.

Moving right along, prep school blazers have not only been a fashion staple for those actually attending private school, but those who simply want the look. This year a lot of battalion jackets have replaced the more structured prep-school look.

ModCloth, $79.99.

This jacket from ModCloth is a happy marriage between funky and chic. Paired with a white blouse left open, like this one, an easy breezy look is achieved.

ModCloth, $42.99.

Finally, adding a jewel toned bag, like this bargain from Forever 21, completes the Gossip Girl look.

Forever 21, $34.80.

What do you think of this look? Would you try the battalion jacket or stick with a more preppy look?

Monday ramblings.

First of all, PLEASE (for your own sake) head over to my review blog and enter the Wishpot/Avelle contest to win an amazingly beautiful kate spade purse. You won't regret it.

Second, Anne Hathaway, you can do no wrong. Isn't she gorgeous? I want to be her.

From InStyle.

Third, we had a lovely time at the beach this weekend. We drove over, had lunch at Mo's, laid on the beach like lazy bums, perused the used book store (where I bought NOTHING, I know, hold me), raided the candy shop at ate our weight in salt water taffy. We also saw this:

Awesome kite thingy.

My adorable husband.

The beach!

Schmee.

I love sand in my toes.

His very intelligent face.

Us.

The other awesome thing this weekend was having my Dad for a visit to help with some house selections.

Dad taking a photo of the house that now has interior walls and siding all around!

We had a little adventure picking tile. Let me translate. We went into the tile place and I went through every sample in the place because WHAT THE HECK DO I KNOW ABOUT TILE? My Dad very graciously stood by as I whined and made very grumpy faces until I finally picked one. It's a good thing he loves me.

My mom is coming this weekend for my birthday extravaganza! (birthday was in August, present is a weekend of awesome). More on that later.

How were your weekends?

Looking like a Lemon.

I was going to do a video post today, but I think I"m just too embarrassed to do so. I never knew I looked upwards so much when I talked. Or how I say words funny. Or how my voice recorded annoys me to death. Anyway, a reader suggested I continue this series of Entertainment Inspired Fashion, so here's another round!

Tina Fey as Liz Lemon.

Taylor and I have recently started watching 30 Rock: Season 1. While it definitely does not appeal to my sense of humor (a little too much crazy for me), I do love me some Liz Lemon. Everyone always pokes fun at how she dresses, but frankly I think she has come pretty cute outfits! She definitely knows how to work a blazer paired with jeans! Do you agree? Would you like to imitate Lemon's look? Here are some pieces that will get you started.

Let's start at the feet. Lemon is pictured above wearing sneakers. While she's been known to wear some fabulous heels as well, donning a pair of the sneakers below are sure to add a Lemon-y:) feel to your look.

Jack Purcell, $65.00.

Next up is the pants. Lemon knows how to rock the designer jeans, if nothing else. She usually chooses a boot cut silhouette, the most universally flattering. A pair like the ones below are a great cut, wash and have nice pocket detailing. They go nicely with sneakers or heels. Liz Lemon approved!

Nordstrom, $165.00.

And if you don't like the price of those jeans, you can do what I do and go in to the store, try the jeans on, write down the style, size and serial number and eBay those suckers!

Moving right along, onto the top. Lemon has been known to don a sweater or two, but my personal favorite is when she pairs a graphic tee and her signature blazer. J.Crew has pretty much been kicking butt in the embellished tee department lately. This tee would match the Jack's perfectly!

J.Crew, $49.50.

Top the look off with this fantastic blazer, a nice mix between a work weight and casual look. And maybe wait until it goes on sale. Yeesh!

J.Crew, $178.00.

Add some glasses, you know, if you need them, and you will be ready to face anything. Even Tracy Morgan/Jordan-esque characters. Happy Thursday!

House Update: 09.23.09

Things sure are moving quickly over at our little house! Here are some photos from our trip over there last night:

Fuse box for lovely! pendant lights over the bar.

Master shower.

Front door (temporary, obvs.)!

The garage, which will soon have a floor!

The back of the house has siding! Which will be painted a MYSTERY color! Aren't you SO curious?

Roofed, wired, plumbed and ready for siding!

On a slightly different note, I was feeling crafty last night while watching Oklahoma! (love) and pumped these little beauties out:

Available in the shop.

What have you lovelies been up to this fine Wednesday?

Entertainment inspired fashion.

While some of the more stylish of us may sit and wait (with bated breathe of course) as designer collections debut on the runway, which I can't deny, can be quite enjoyable, more often than not, most designer items are either unwearable or unaffordable.

I tend to glean my fashion inspiration from movies or TV. Sandra Bullock's character in The Proposal, Margaret is dressed to the nines the entire movie. Tailored suits, pants and dresses that fit like they were made for her. However, my very favorite outfit she wears the entire movie is the one pictured below:

Margaret:

It is a perfect marriage of comfortable, casual and chic. The outfit can be assembled with a few of the below items:

J.Crew, $47.60 (order a size too big to achieve the slouchy look).

Gap, $19.50.

J.Crew, $35.00 (cashmere).

Old Navy, $29.50.
Add these black flats from Target, $12.99, and your look is complete!

If you feel inspired to do a little dance while you are wearing this outfit, just make sure you are feeling the beat. And do try to be a little bit nicer than Margaret. Please and thank you.:)

Inspirations: Young House Love

As we are embarking upon our own home building/decorating adventure, I have been drawing inspiration from many different places. One of my favorite so far is this oh-so-appropriate blog my cousin sent me.

They did such a great job turning their house into a home they were featured on both The Nest (one of my most FAVORITE Web sites) and HGTV. They also have videos, tutorials, photo libraries and their everyday blog posts for readers to benefit from. I'm kind of loving the site right now, you should go on over and check it out!

Here's an adorable video on framing arrangements.

Framing Arrangements from Young House Love on Vimeo.

Happy Monday!

Friday Bullets: In the style of Rhi.

My lovely friend Rhi's Friday Bullets have become quite renowned in the blogosphere, so in honor of her, I shall do my own version.

• Tonight we shall head to the infamous Mt. Angel Oktoberfest. Where I shall eat a corn dog, curly fries, drink a milkshake from the dairy farmers and spend time with the entire town of Silverton.
  
• I will be introduced to approximately 4,700 people. Two of which I will actually remember.
  
• I've gotten two orders for blog designs! Someday I'll make a living out of this (crosses fingers).
  
• My Dad is coming next week to do his own "inspection" of our house, which is going up SO RIDICULOUSLY FAST I can't even believe it!
• When we went over there last night we had WINDOWS! But it was too dark to take photos, so stay tuned.
• I finally got all my money from Etsy orders and my BlogHer ad revenue, so I will be purchasing and ENJOYING Bones: Season 3 all weekend long. While I work, that is.
• I'm having a really blah hair sequence. You needed to know that.
• It's going through one of it's thinning stages so it's really thin at the roots, but still thicker than thick at the ends and POOFY when curly and FLAT when straight. I can't win.
• I am currently in charge of a very! important! project at work, since my co-worker is in Israel for two weeks, so please say your prayers that I'll meet my deadline and it'll be mistake-free!
• I can't think of anything else this weekend, besides hopefully picking out house stuff, since I haven't had time yet. Eep!

Got big plans for the weekend?

Pieces of me.

Well now that I've admitted my slight identity issues:), I thought it may be time to explain some of the pieces of me that I'm happy with! Which reminds me of an old Ashlee Simpson song. You know, before the nose job and the baby and such.

Anyhue, some of the things that I feel make me so very ME, are as follows:

1. I love knowing where I came from. Not in the birds and bees sense, but in the ancestral sense. Both my parents' families are from Montana, my grandparents from Montana, Tennesee and New York, and from there it's pretty much France, Ireland and England. Which I think is awesome. I love thinking of Montana as "home," and day dreaming that I belong in some way to different cultures.

2. I love my computer. Granted, most of the blogging community shares this one, but it's been since day one. Ever since that very first Gateway (with no Internet!) arrived at our house, I have loved to spend time customizing, exploring and figuring out computers. Eventually this love spread to the Internet itself and hardly a night at home passes without Taylor or I planted in the living room, laptop on lap.

My beloved computer and glasses (item #7)!

3. I don't believe in love at first sight, but it happened to me. Yes. Believe it. I'm not sure if I've ever relayed the full T + K story, probably because it is rather embarrassing and I like to pretend like I'm cool here, but anyway, I literally saw Taylor at a pre-orientation in June before school started and was like, "that's my future husband." Although the love wasn't exactly reciprocated at first sight, he came around a year and half later.:)

My love.

4. I really like having time to myself, but always feel so refreshed after getting together with friends. This makes deciding what to do on a Friday night VERY difficult. Of course I want to stay in, but I know I'll have fun if we go out. But I think it makes for a nice balance in life.

5. I am loyal to a fault. Just ask any of my friends who have broken up with their boyfriends. Or maybe ask the boyfriends. If there were still "rumbles" all West Side Story-style, I would be all over that. Always ready to fight for someone I love.

6. I love clothes. I love beautifully made clothes. I love the feeling of wearing something you know looks good, not because anyone else tells you, but because you KNOW. I love reading about clothes, watching shows about clothes and talking about clothes.

The happy home of my clothes.

7. I love my glasses. I'm sure people think this is really bizarre, especially with the whole laser surgery thing available, but I will NEVER EVER stop wearing glasses. They are the equivalent of sweatpants to my eyes. And they go very well with sweatpants I might add. And a book. And a fireplace.

8. I cannot read like a normal person. This bothers me sometimes, but most of the time I enjoy it. Although, I think perhaps I should have warned Taylor a little more thoroughly before we got married. When I read a book, it often does not leave my hands from the time I pick it up, until it is finished. No matter the hour, if I miss meals, or sleep. It often ruins the flow of the story if I have to take myself out of the world I'm in and deal with reality. Or I can't deal with reality because my brain is back in book-land. I often experience a little depression after I finish a book, even more so with a series. And I can read a book OVER and OVER if I like it. Exhibit A: I started the Twilight series on a Saturday afternoon and finished on a Monday morning over Easter weekend. I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but I think I even read through Easter dinner.

Me and my book, happy as can be.

9. I'm a planner. Not in the sense that I have to have every minute of my day planned, but more like I'm always looking forward to the next thing. I was looking forward to summer, my birthday, vacation and now that those have passed, it's my Mom coming, Thanksgiving, moving. I like this trait because I RARELY spend time looking back on what has come and gone. I don't tend to worry about the past or regret things.

10. And finally, I really like the fact that I'm (almost) always changing for the better. It is amazing to look back on even just the last few years and see how much change God has brought about in my life. It's crazy how different I am than I once was, and how I'll probably look back on this post in a year or two and think GAH! I was so immature.:) Change is scary, but it has been good to me. So keep it coming!

What are your favorite pieces of yourself? It's Feel Good Wednesday around here so BRAG IT UP!

Me vs. Me.

Do you ever feel a little restricted by the person you are? Does that sentence even make sense? You know, like when you want to do something, wear something, say something but it doesn't really fit in with the reputation you have? A recent tweet of a friend's reminded me of how I always wished a boy would ask me to a dance in some dramatic way, like singing a song in front of the entire school. But, no. I was far too mean/scary in high school for any of those poor boys to think this would work on me.

Well here is a list of ten things I've always wanted to do/experience but never have for fear of not staying true to myself. Now don't start thinking I'm going to go all crazy. I'm far too cautious, it's just kind of fun to think about.

1. Be a cheerleader. The Bring it On type, obviously. "I'm sexy, I'm cute..." you know the famous intro. LOVE IT. And Bring it On: The Original, not 2, 5, 8, or 25. Seriously, let it DIE. Anyway, this never came about because cheer leading is kind of frowned upon when you are a basketball player...

2. Dye my hair. I've always wanted to be a brunette. I know, crazy right? I have a really unique color red, but I've always secretly wanted to have a Sophia Bush/Anne Hathaway look.


3. Paint my nails black. I just can't bring myself to do it. I think it'll look way too "I'm a psycho" on me. But it looks so cute on others.

4. Be a fashion designer.

5. Dress more edgy/trendy/be less petrified of getting criticized.

6. Get a tattoo. I don't think I ever will because OUCH! and I couldn't ever decided what to get (graphic designer problem).

7. Live in the city. I'm also pretty sure this won't ever happen due to the mate I've chosen, but a girl can dream!:)

8. Take a dance class. Like hip hop dance. And maybe live in a world that's just like a musical. Well, maybe just the dance class.

9. Sing in front of people. I used to do choir and be on the worship team at church, but now I'm afraid my voice muscle has atrophied.

10. Move to France. I could seriously do this one. But I'm just not sure that is the path my life is going to take.

And here is my artistic rendering of the "alternate me." Evil twin, if you will.

Red headed me v. Brunette me with a musical talent, beret and pom poms.

What would you do/wear/say/be if you weren't you?

Weekend Highlights and some rap music.

Hope you all had a spectacular weekend. I'm going to be quite busy in the next couple weeks as my beloved co-worker is heading to Israel and I will be holding down the fort. So, here are some of my highlights from the weekend, in place of a wordy post.

Getting my hands on the one dress that rules them all.

Going to the house Saturday to find that we had walls AND the makings of a roof.

Finding this ridiculously awesome 1950's suit in a vintage store Friday night.

Watching this trailer and getting ridiculously excited for the movie.

Heading to the theater on date with my boy to see this movie:


During which I laughed my head off (not a common thing) because this is my favorite rap song ever. Also, I love her outfit in this scene. And I would like to go to wherever in Alaska that movie was filmed because it is GORGEOUS. Hahahaha I'm still laughing just writing about that scene. Hahaha.

Topped off with a lovely family sort of dinner Saturday night at my BIL and SIL's house, we had quite a lovely weekend in kramey-land. What about you loves?

**AND I can't believe I forgot this! I had a seriously excellent lunch and pedicure outing with Kerrianne and Rhi yesterday, during which we were informed that murder is not cool, often frowned upon and getting punched in the leg means you should probably think about shaving those suckers.

House Update: 09.11.09.

I believe this was how I phrased it last night:

And we do!!!

Ahhh! Isn't it beautiful!? The fresh scent of plywood in the air. :) When we arrived in our neighborhood last night to meet with our builder, we were greeted by this lovely sight. So of course! we had to take a little tour, and I may or may not have decided where all our furniture will go.

So, without further ado, here is a little mini-tour. The full tour in photos can be found here.

Laundry Room, I believe.

Our bedroom window. I kind of LOVE that view.

Living/Dining Room and Kitchen!

Taylor's "this is my digs" gesture.

So aside from the oh-so-exciting fact that the house has WALLS, we also got to make a few selections on interior details last night. These decisions included a maple hardwood floor, some paint colors (oatmeal for the main living area, sage-y green for master suite and we'll paint anything else ourselves), tile counter tops in the bathrooms, a lovely tile-esque vinyl flooring for the bathrooms and beautiful craftsman style ALDER cabinets. They're so pretty! Look!

How the cabinets will look.

Anyway, there are a few more things to pick this weekend and then we'll be back to the waiting! Got big plans for the weekend?

The one dress that rules them all.

You guys. I have found the PERFECT dress. THE PERFECT DRESS. I was just shopping around casually in Anthropologie yesterday, when my co-worker and I decided to each grab a dress that we didn't think we would ever wear and try it on.

I grabbed this one (photo below), and as I zipped up the zipper, realized that it fit like a glove! Not only did it fit, but it hit me at my very tiniest part of my waist- which is not all that tiny considering I have a rather boyish figure and hardly ANY clothes hit there. The photo really doesn't even do it justice.

The one dress that rules them all.

As you can imagine, since the dress was found at Anthropologie, it costs a pretty penny. So, needless to say I will be waiting until it goes on sale, or finding it on eBay. But how often do you find a dress that fits you PERFECTLY!? I can only find it online in this color:

But I think I definitely need it in the green, right? I mean the dress was made for red headed folk, right!?

Another little tidbit, I decided the jeans I got last weekend are too big (and too out of my budget) so I plan on taking them back. I found another pair at Anthropologie on sale, but they are definitely not as thick or cute as the first pair. What do y'all think I should do? Take them both back? Wait until I find a pair that I really LOVE!? I need your expert fashion opinions.