All White and Sparkles

Dress - B Darlin

As promised, here's what I ended up wearing for my bachelorette party! Sorry for the low quality photos, it was one of those nights when we thought there was plenty of time to get ready, and then we ended up rushing to hit our dinner reservation, so I had one of my friends snap these real quick before we ran out the door.

You may be noticing that I'm not wearing the dress I shared on Instagram that I was going to wear (I bought it freaking 8 months ago! It's out of stock but you can find a similar one here). I actually decided I love that dress so much that I didn't want to ruin it with a night on Bourbon Street (This one lost quite a few sequins, got spilled on, got rained on, and started turning pink!) so I decided to save it for the rehearsal dinner. Instead I picked up this sequined dress on super sale (I think it's supposed to be a prom or homecoming dress? Whatevs, it fit!) because it was still white and sparkly and fun but I knew I wouldn't care if I ruined it since it was such a good deal. It's weird, normally junior sizes do not work on me because of my bust, but this fit really well. It was a lot shorter than I'm used to these days, but heck, it was my bachelorette party!



We were in NOLA from Friday through the crack of dawn on Monday and were going basically the whole time. We rented a house in Bywater which is next to the French Quarter and kind of a hipster-y neighborhood, so we spent Friday afternoon and night exploring that neighborhood and hanging out. On Saturday we ventured into French Quarter Fest during the day, which was so cool because every time you turned a corner there was another stage with a band playing and people out in the streets dancing. That night is when we got all dolled up to hit Bourbon Street, where I found some hurricanes, did some dancing (including a new dance I invented called "The Crow" which I'm told is terrifying to watch), and tried to say the weirdest things possible to all of the bachelor parties that were out. You know, normal bachelorette party stuff. On Sunday we drove over to Magazine Street to do more exploring and a little shopping and then passed out super early.

I'm pretty sure New Orleans is my spirit animal, and I told Jeff we have to go back. Like, right now.

Oh, and bonus: what I wore to my sister-in-law's bachelorette party:

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Bachelorette Party Dresses

Hey y'all! I get to say "y'all" because I'm currently in the south, and because this post is on auto-post so past me can do whatever she wants. Since I'm juuuuust getting back from my bachelorette party in NOLA this morning, instead of my regularly scheduled weekend recap, I thought I'd share some of my picks for cute dresses to wear to your bachelorette party. Later this week I'll share what I ended up wearing as well as some other bachelorette party tidbits.

Now, just putting this out there: you don't have to wear white to your bachelorette party if you're the bride. Wear whatever color you please! My cousin wore a tee shirt and jeans to her bachelorette party, because she was the bachelorette and got to do her thing. I just so happen to love little white dresses and will take basically any excuse to wear one.

Which dress is your favorite? What did you wear on your bachelorette party, or what would you wear?

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Undone Salad Dressing

I don't know if you know this about me, but I am super, super lazy, especially in the kitchen. I buy pre-washed/pre-cut fruit at the grocery store because I know I'll never eat fruit if I have to do that stuff myself, I'll often plan elaborate dinners only to decide it's too much work and order something instead, and I try to use as few dishes as possible when I cook to avoid having more to clean up, which means I cut a lot of corners (like refusing to use a whisk when a fork can do almost the same job).

This always turns into a problem when it comes to salad dressing. I know I should make my own, it's healthier and cheaper and tastes better yada yada yada. I have all of the ingredients and recipes and even a special salad dressing mixer bottle to use, but when push comes to shove I always reach for the pre-made dressing so readily available in my fridge.

I tried out this quinoa bowl recipe a couple of weeks ago during a Bachelor viewing party/dinner date with one of my girlfriends (because Jeff would never, ever consider a quinoa bowl to be dinner!) and we basically freaked over how easy and good the dressing is. I call it an "undone" dressing because rather than getting out a bowl and whisking all of the ingredients together, you just sprinkle and drizzle everything over the top of your salad. No extra dishes, no extra mess!

This particular dressing is geared towards a southwest salad, but you could easily swap the lime for lemon, take out the honey, or add fresh herbs depending on your preference.

Undone Salad Dressing

You'll Need (for one salad):
Salt and Pepper
1/2 TB Olive Oil
1/4 TB Honey
1/2 Lime

Add a generous amount of salt and pepper to the top of your salad. Drizzle olive oil and honey over the top. Squeeze lime juice over everything. And you're done! I prefer to eat it as-is, but if you prefer you could mix the salad to combine the flavors. Easy peasy.

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White + Floral

Jacket (similar here or here) - Target / Sweater (similar) - Loft / Jeans - Old Navy / Heels (similar) - Sole Society / Bag (similar) - Kate Spade

I don't know when it happened, but I feel so busy all the time these days. This week after work I've been running around like a crazy person trying to get ready for my bachelorette weekend in NOLA (we leave this Friday!!!!), prepping for my sister's baby shower, going to events for work, and even squeezed in a little anniversary celebration with Jeff last night at Green Street Smoked Meats (his pick, not really the most romantic of restaurants but so good!!).

There's little room in my brain for outfit planning, so I fell back on some of my usual spring favorites for Easter this weekend: white denim, the comfiest heels ever, and my favorite floral blazer (can't believe this baby, which I thought was probably a trendy one-off when I snagged it at Target back in 2013, is going on it's third year in heavy rotation).

While people normally wouldn't think tight white pants were a good idea for a big food eating day, I've been trying to count calories this spring, so the unforgiving waist band was a good reminder not to stuff myself silly. I know everyone has crowned Thanksgiving as the eating holiday to end all eating holidays, but I actually prefer Easter. At my grandma's house, Easter dinner always means ham, scalloped potatoes, spring vegetables, and crescent rolls. I'll take that over canned cranberry sauce any day!

Two more ways to wear a floral blazer:

 

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This Weekend...

This weekend I…

…Went on a little dinner date with the boo to Wood, which had maybe one of the best champagne cocktails I've ever had (somehow not overly sweet!) and some freaking amazing spicy lobster pasta. Jeff and I realized we hadn't had a real date night in a while and it was fun to go out and get the chance to connect without work or wedding invitations in the way.
…Speaking of wedding invitations, finished putting all of ours together! We thought it wouldn't be that much work to do all of them ourselves rather than enlisting friends and family members for help. Umm, wrong! It took us three episodes of Unbreakable (finally finished the season, and OMG Jon Hamm!) and 10 Things I Hate About You as well as some wrestling (that one was not my choice ;) to get through them all.
…Went shopping for baby shower decorations and supplies for my sister's baby shower I'm throwing in a couple of weeks. Was I a little crazy to offer to throw a shower in the midst of the wedding countdown? Nahhhhhh...
…Stopped in to Taverna 750 for drinks (each martini comes with a separate "sidecar" on ice, aka, second drink!) and a freaking amazing peanut butter torte. Now I need to go back for dinner sometime!
…Went to church and Easter brunch with Jeff's parents, and then drove up to my grandma's house to meet up with my giant extended family for Easter dinner.

I hope you had a good one!

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What to Wear to a "Casual" Wedding

Back in 2013 (was that already two years ago?!) I did a series on what to wear to different types of weddings, including what to wear to an outdoor wedding, a church wedding, a hotel wedding, and a beach wedding. I'm in that phase of my life where basically everyone I know is getting married, so I've seen it all. I thought I'd share another type of wedding to get dressed for - a casual dress code wedding. My brother had a casual wedding (I believe the invite actually specified "barn casual") and people wore everything from heels (not great in the grass!) to cargo shorts. My sister and I were groomsmen (grooms ladies?) and we wore pretty casual dresses with fun belts and flat sandals (and got a little too into the lawn games):

(photo by Brad Ryan Photography)

This spring I'm invited to another casual backyard wedding for one of my good friends, so I've been thinking about what to wear. I guess it really depends on if the weather cooperates, but I love the idea of wearing a pretty little linen dress and some fun sparkly flat sandals:

Necklace - Loft / Clutch - Sole Society / Sandals - Sole Society / Dress - Loft

For a casual wedding, I also love the idea of wearing a pretty skirt and blouse instead of a dress. Here are some of my top picks:

Have you ever been to a casual wedding? What would you wear?

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LBD

Dress - ℅ WearAll / Heels (similar) - ShoeMint / Necklace (similar) - JCrew Factory / Bracelet (similar) - Loft / Bag - Darby Smart (I made it!) 

How many little black dresses do you own? Until recently, I had none! Well, that isn't really true, there is one in my closet, but it no longer fits and has a huge peplum (are peplums totally out?) so I feel like it doesn't really count.  I was super excited to get this number, not just to fill the hole in my wardrobe, but also because of the cute (and flattering!) bow detail on the front. The high neckline and bow feel classy, while the length and tight cut are more on the fun side, making it the perfect balance for a lot of events. Date nights and nights out, watch out, cause I'm ready for you! (*edit* I just looked through my closet. I have three LBD's. And a little black romper. This whole post is apparently a lie. Also, I should probably clean my closet)

Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, it's a little warmer in Chicago today, but I took these pictures over the weekend when it was about 24 degrees! I got some MAJOR side eye from some of my neighbors running around in a little dress and sandals ;) Don't worry though, I was only outside for a couple of minutes. When it's really cold out, blog pictures are more of a run out, snap a pic, and run back inside situation. As Jeff pointed out, I do really weird things for my little corner of the internet ;)

Two more ways to wear strappy heels:

 

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