Trendy and (one day) Professional

The other day I wore one of my favorite dresses from Anthro. It's a classic little black dress in a not so classic cut, which is what I love about it. It's the perfect nice wedding dress. Case and point:

But for work, I need a few layers for warmth (it is always freezing in the store!!) and just a little bit of outfitting to spruce it up. So this was the outcome of my attempts of layering.

I felt like this was totally blog post worthy because our personal stylist at the store even complimented my outfitting so that put some extra pep in my step after that! 

Dress: Cutout Collar Dress; Anthropologie

This is so my "go to" belt from Anthro...and I loved that it was brown enough to toe the line with brown and black, but not an obvious clashing. 

Sweater: Merona Ruffle Cardigan; Target. Belt: Anthropologie

 So I had to lean over and take a selfy of my legs for this one...so 1) I have lumpy knees 2) not the most flattering angle, but you do what you gotta do for the sake of a blog post, right? 

Tights: Sheer Polka Dot Tights; Antrhopologie. Boots: Wedge Boot with Buckles; Cathy Jean 

 Earrings: Pave Posts; Anthropologie

Tah-dah!! One of these days when I have for real job as a counselor, I totally plan on wearing this outfit to the office sometime. Trendy and (one of these days) professional. 

Flipping Burger

As most of you probably know, I call my middle sister Kirby "Burger". She's in my phone as Burger and talking to her in public has gotten me a weird look or two...or five hundred. Either way, I felt like I needed to give some background on my post title. The "flipping" part comes from when Kirby came to me a month or two ago with a great idea! I had been doing a lot of my Pretending to be Trendy posts and she wanted to be a "project" for a PTBT post--a make over!! She left picking out the hair cut up to me, helping to style her wardrobe a bit (or at least what to pair with what or buying an "essential" item or two to use in the coming season), and teaching her house to do her make up using Bare Minerals, with other touches for day vs. night time make up.

So here is the official BEFORE: 

So I looked, researched, and worried over how to have Kirby's hair cut. I was definitely feeling the pressure! Her hair had been long and lacking shape lately, but I also knew how important quick and easy styling was since she is the mother of a very active 2 year old! She mentioned that she was totally okay with shorter hair as long as it was at least 8 inches off so she could donate her tresses to "Locks for Love". These were my two models I finally settled on--long bob, with thick side swoop bangs.

Now that was most of my prep work was done, it was time to start snipping! Kirby didn't even want me to tell her anything about what we were planning to do, but I think she had an idea that we were going short when we started wrapping up her hair into a pony tail to chop off.

While Mrs. Tammy was snipping, I playing with this little munchkin who had just gotten her hair cut :)

I could not have been more happy with the final haircut! It was fun, fresh, young mom, but but too mom looking...it's a hard balance to find, but she did it! All credit totally goes to Mrs. Tammy on this once, but Kirby really loved it too and that's when I knew I did my job! Kirby is not one to hide her emotions when she doesn't like something (at least between sisters that is...) so I knew that she really did love it!

Next up was make up time! Well, actually next was  lunch and putting Felicity down for a nap, and then the next step was make up. Kirby had recently bought Bare Minerals and wanted someone to really show her how to use it. And then past that, she wanted to know how to really apply day time make up as well as night time make up. I really don't know when this happened, but I've always seemed to be people's go to hair and make up person for big events so all of these years of practice paid off because I got to teach my sister a trick or two :)

 Drum roll puh-leasssse

Now for a sassy model pose :)

Still as beautiful before, just a little amplified and spruced up in the after :)

Don't worry, I'm doing a clothing post for Kirby and her closet soon :) But I think this is a great make over as is! What a hot mama :)

Shirting

I know it's been a while y'all, but "Pretending to be Trendy" is back! You're so excited, right? Right. So I decided on posting on my Wednesday outfit because I just felt pretty cute all day. I had that extra pep in my step and if that's not worth bragging about, I don't know what is!

I had a normal day shift that I had to quickly transition to class so I definitely wanted cute, but comfy for lots of time in the car. And the temperatures outside are finally matching how I feel like I need to dress for the ice box that is our store!

Also, just so you're in the know, "shirting" is definitely in this season. We have different articles and pictures posted around our break room and tucked away in our fitting room area for the staff and it's all about "shirting". Shirting is about button ups and their versatility; over a dress, tucked into skirts, belted, and the list goes on and on.

Shirt: Anthropologie; Washed Denim Button Down Dress: TJMaxx

Necklace; Anthropologie I swear we still have them in our store and I just bought this this summer, but can't find it on the website! It's one of my favorite statement necklaces I've bought from Anthro so far!

Watch; Rose Gold Fossil Bracelets; Monogrammed Clasp, Bridesmaids gift from my sister Katie; James Avery, high school graduation gift; Borrowed from my mom :)

Ring; H & M gift from Kirby

And of course the good old sock bun

Feeling Wild

I love animal print accents. Too much can be overwhelming, but shoes, belts, or clutches with an accent color are so in right now and such an easy outfit to through together! These two outfits I based solely on the fact that I wanted to break in my two new pairs of leopard and giraffe print flats!

I feel like if I lived in a hip and trendy city, aka not Marietta, I would wear this outfit, or outfits like it, regularly. But I do not. So I use work as an excuse to buy things like this adorably classic, yet still trendy blazer. (And yes, I'm on the house phone while taking these pictures...multi-tasking here people.)

Blazer: Anthropologie, Miette Blazer Shirt: Gap, Essential Crew Neck (in black)  Jeans: Loft, Modern fit Skinny Jeans in Rinse Wash

I took this second picture to show you the angled cut in the back of the jacket. It has a single button in the front and is so soft! It comes in a pale pink too, but it washed me out and I loved this bright pop of color against my hair. 

Necklace: Old Navy

Shoes: Steve Madden, Croquet-L Smoking Flats...in other words, leopard print loafers that I had to search high and low for the perfect pair! I am obsessed! (I found these at Macy's but I'm sure they are at most department stores)

Ring: on an wrinkly looking hand, Versona

The pictures make the shirt and jeans both look way dark--which the jeans are a pretty dark wash, but not the same color as the shirt. Ever since I bought this blazer, I had visions of pairing it with my (non-existent at the time) leopard print flats and some skinny jeans. What an easy outfit to feel cute in! 

Also, I don't know where the hip pop in the pictures came from...? I need to spice up my selfy poses if I'm going to keep these work wardrobe posts up!

This 2nd outfit had two pieces that I was pretty amped up to wear. First is my brand-spankin' new shirt that I literally bought the day before I wore it! I was too excited to wait so I just had to wear it and I thought my giraffe print flats would compliment the bold navy stripes pretty well.

Shirt: Anthropologie, Lace and Lines Pullover To be honest, I do not think the model is wearing it well (not that I am wearing it 10 times better) but I wouldn't have wanted to buy it based on the website picture. Jeans: Loft, They may or may not be the exact same jeans I wore the day before in the pictures before.

Love the detailing and different colors!

The back buttoning might be my favorite detail--definitely why I wore my hair up that day so I could show it off!

Shoes: Michael Kors Fulton Flats

Earrings: (the coloring in this is awful! It's really a pale pink and gold if you can't tell...) Francesca's 

I love both of these shoes (and other parts of the outfits!) but know that I will be wearing them thin during my hours on my feet at work! The compliments in a cute pair of shoes definitely put some pep in my step and a smile on my face!...cliche enough for you...? :)

It's All in the Accessories

It's another "Pretending to be Trendy" post! This has been one of my most complimented outfits thus far, so I decided it was worth a share! I based my whole outfit around what I could wear with my brand-spankin'-new shoes from anthropologie.com and in a few pictures, you'll see why because they're pretty great...

Dress: Target 

Belt: Anthropologie 

Earrings: Anthropologie

Shoes!!: Anthropologie; Hansa Mary Janes 
I got SO many compliments on these the other day--they were on the cover of our Anthro magazine this past quarter and I knew I had to get them as soon as I saw them! So comfy too!

Nothing special! Just a plain old clip

Okay, so this is my semi-fail. I tried to do an "accent nail", but was too lazy to take off my purple layer...Hm...I'll do better next time I hope!

I tried find a link to both the belt and the earrings because I've bought both as new since I've started working there, but they've already been taken down off the site! I know we still have the earrings in our store though for around $32. Just wanted to let you know why there wasn't a reference! 

Thinking about it...

So I definitely got a boost of confidence in my ability to dress myself for work from all of the blog views and comments! Thanks y'all :) 

But with that said, I do think my "Pretending to be Trendy" posts might pop up every couple of weeks! And, this is a big maybe, but I'm thinking about doing a vlog or two so I can show how easy it really is to do my hair when I wear it up!! Seriously guys, I don't think you understand that my motivating factor in wearing my hair up is so I don't have to spend 30 minutes blowing drying my hair and another 20+ minutes of straightening. (I have a ton of hair. It's really thick and getting longer by the day!) But I do like doing a little something different because a plain, ole ponytail can just be boring sometimes--not that I don't throw one up every once and a while.

Short post, but just wanted to let y'all know what I was thinking!! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will be spending mine at work :)