Rebecca Minkoff Giveaway!

Welcome to December!! This month, I'm teaming up with a lovely group of bloggers to giveaway a gorgeous Rebecca Minkoff bag.  The giveaway runs from December 1 - 25th and is open to US residents only.  To enter, use the Rafflecopter below!

Undeniably, me / Glossy Blonde / Karly Kim

A Beauty Moment / Kristina Does the Internets / The Brandied Pear



a Rafflecopter giveaway

P.S. You can tweet and pin daily for extra entries!  Good luck!!




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Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you have a very happy Thanksgiving that's filled with many plates of leftovers.  I'm taking off the next two days for the holiday.  See you on Monday!




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DIY Christmas Ribbon Wreath

Yesssssss, I know that Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so a Christmas-y post might not make the most sense.  Over the weekend though, my friend and I had a craft day so of course I had to share.  We decided to make various types of wreaths and both showed up with a mountain of craft supplies, but all I ended up using were a couple rolls of ribbon and a wire wreath frame.  Of course, that's mostly because this ended up taking a whole movie to complete.  It was Home Alone though, so, worth it.

You need:

125-150 feet of wired ribbon (you can use regular ribbon, but wired looks a whole lot prettier)

1 24in wire wreath frame

Scissors

Cut a piece of ribbon about 10 inches long.  Tie the ribbon around the outer two wires "bunny" style, so that there are two loops at the top.  Tuck the ends in.  Then tie another ribbon right next to it, but around the two middle wires.  Then tie another ribbon around the two inner wires.  Continue, alternating colors/patterns, until the whole wreath frame is covered.

What will I do with my wreath?  That is now up in the air, since I made the mistake of leaving it on a chair and Jeff sat on it.  How he didn't notice it was there, I'm not sure.  So now I guess I have some major re-fluffing to do!





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Trend Spin Linkup - Layers

Hey everyone!  Today I'm co-hosting the Trend-Spin Linkup with Walking in Memphis in High Heels and The Fashion Canvas.  This week's theme is layers, which I was super excited about because layering is baaaaasically my jam.  You can enter the linkup below.

I finally got a plaid shirt the a couple weeks ago, and now I want to wear it basically every day.  I know I say that with a lot of things, but I'm literally holding myself back with this one.  Don't tell my sister.  I always tease her for wearing a lot of plaid.

Shirt - Old Navy / Sweatshirt - JCrew (similar) / Jeans - Gap / Necklace - Loft (old, similar here and here) / Bracelet - Michael Kors / Booties - F21 (old, similar)

I'm starting to get really excited for Thanksgiving.  It's a pretty busy couple of days for me.  On Thanksgiving, we're heading to a Thanksgiving lunch and dinner with different parts of Jeff's family.  Then on Black Friday we meet up with my mom's family for our annual "Christmas Walk" which used to involve walking around downtown Chicago to window shop and lunch, but since all of the cousins hit drinking age it's mostly turned into hanging out at a brewery for an entire afternoon.  On Saturday we're going with my family and some friends up to Wisconsin to cut down Christmas trees and then having a little neighborhood party.  And then I'm going to spend allllll of Sunday laying ;) What are your Thanksgiving plans?

Be sure to enter the linkup below, and follow the hosts!

An InLinkz Link-up

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This weekend...

This weekend I...

... Had a craft making/Christmas movie watching marathon with a friend.
... Went to see Hunger Games only once, as opposed to the two times my sister went.
... Went on Target and Michael's binges.
... Had a big family dinner at my grandma's house.
... Watched Aziz Ansari's latest special.
... Took the boy out to Nacional 27 for dinner to celebrate his new job.
... Went on a Gilmore Girls binge.  It's still good!
... Decided I needed a chocolate shake, but had to drink it with my hood up and the seat warmer turned on.  So cold, so worth it.
... Had some yummy shortrib waffles for breakfast.  Let's be honest, it barely counts as breakfast food.
... Did a whole bunch of freelancing work.

I hope you had a good one!




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Why I'm not hitting the mall on Black Friday

Next Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year.  And I love to shop (not sure if I've made that obvious on here).  Yet I never go out on Black Friday.  For me, it just isn't worth it.  So why am I staying home?

Who wants to shop when it's so crowded?
Ummm, not me.  When I was in high school and was done for the day obscenely early (like, 1:30 I think?  Did I even go to school?) I would do all of my shopping early in the afternoon before the crowds took over.  I just prefer not to fight for a parking spot, not to stand in lines, and not to have to beg for the sales people's attention.  The busiest shopping day of the year just does not sound fun to me.

It takes away from family time.
Every year Black Friday deals seem to start earlier and earlier.  Last year the mall in my hometown opened at 10pm, and I'm sure it'll be earlier this time.  Think about all of the people who have to go in and open the store before you rush in to shop.  I get sad every year when my family members who work in retail have to head into work while we're still stuffing our faces with pumpkin pie (or, in my case, sneakily searching for ice cream in the back of my grandma's freezer, - no pie for me, thanks!).  Every year that stores open earlier, it means the employees get to spend less of their Thanksgiving with their families.

Why hit the mall when I can shop online in my pajamas?
So last year I looked at ads and sale emails to see if I should change my tune about Black Friday.  And you know what?  A lot of the deals were the same, if not better, for online stores.  Now, I wasn't shopping for a new flatscreen or anything, for something like that you probably have to go to the store.  But for clothes and accessories and other little Christmas gifts, shopping online in my pajamas worked just fine.

So what about you?  Do you go out on Black Friday?  Or is it a shopping holiday you prefer to skip?




P.S. I'm being featured on Simple Easy Style today!

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Leather and Suede

This has quickly become my favorite transformative outfit.  I just add my favorite emerald cardigan and scarf (not pictured, whoops!) and it's completely casual.  I've worn this a couple of times lately and hoped that no one would notice ;)

Shirt - F21 (no longer available, similar here, here, here) / Jeans - Gap / Necklace - NY&Co (old, similar here) / Booties - Sole Society

Ahem.  It may have been a tinge too sunny on this particular day to wear white.  My bad.

Oh and hey, I bought the colored booties I was lusting after here, and they are definitely my new favorites.  I showed them to my sister, and she didn't say she completely hates them, so that's something (she mostly has a problem with booties in general).  Plus I had some store credits I won in a giveaway from Coffee Beans and Bobby Pins, so they were almost free! 

Have a great Thursday!

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