The Weekend Mystery Party.

Sorry for my absence! I am in a play that premiers in less than 2 weeks, so my practice schedule has been hectic lately! However, after a long practice on Saturday, I went out with a couple friends to a "weekend mystery party." My fabulous friend, Kelly, got us on the VIP list, so we hung out in style the whole night! I wore a black and brown outfit. Let me start by saying that five years ago I would have NEVER done that. I used to think it couldn't get worse than wearing black and brown in the same outfit. Now? I love the combo! The two ways I love most are a) blocking the color, like I did in my outfit below, or b) adding accents of one color, with the majority of the outfit being the other color. (i.e. All black dress with a brown belt and brown shoes or an all black dress with a big brown necklace as the focal point of the outfit, like mine below.)

bcbg Mendel boot finished off the outfit!

Vintage La Rose bracelet (my new love!) and my "?" stamp which signified my status as VIP :)

Christmas gift from mom & dad. I am crazy about this necklace! It makes any outfit interesting!

Saturday night = success.

Re-Runs.

I was clicking through some pictures tonight while watching The Bachelor, and it inspired me to do a post featuring some of my favorite outfits. (That I actually have pictures of!) Some pictures are with others, because I couldn't crop myself out without looking like I am missing half my face. Enjoy my friends!

One of my all-time faves. Rozae Nichols dress from Kittie Kyle.

Great casual dress from Scoop NYC. Sorry so small - had to crop out the boy who wasn't smiling :)

Missoni dress... had to feature Mom too! Yes, I am naturally a brunette :)

Reason why this dress is a favorite...the back!

Another Missoni dress. LOVE Missoni!! This is my cousin Clayton. Wanted to leave him in the picture because he has such great style! Just look at that shirt & tie!

Anna Sui dress w/cut out back! Had to layer with the turtleneck...it was chilly!

I wear this soooo much! A Common Thread dress.

First thing's first, this is hands down my favorite summer dress! The whole back is lace!

This is my family (cousins)! I wanted to include it to show another stylish man in my fam: MY BROTHER, Peyton (far left) So proud of him!

Ok ok...I just HAD to post this one. For obvious reasons :)

*All dresses but black one in the family pic and tie-dyed one are from Kittle Kyle in Memphis, TN.

The Usual Suspects.

I love perfume. I love secretly smelling my wrists throughout the day. Most of all, I love the hunt for the perfect perfume. In my opinion, perfume (and sunglasses) is a very personal and hard gift to get someone...unless they give you a specific name or style. That's why I like buying it for myself. Going into a store, studying the bottles, wondering what scent hides inside, and finally smelling one that captivates you....I love it all! My favorite places to shop for fragrances are Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Nordstrom, and small boutiques. The reason for those choices is that they all carry unique and interesting perfumes and brands. I also love Luckyscent for online shopping. Happy perfume hunting! Here are some of the ones I wear most...

L to R: Nanadebary "Pink"; Fendi "Palazzo"; Hermes "EAU DES MERVEILLES"; Frederic Malle "Lipstick Rose"; Kilian "Love"

My two fave bottles. Love the woman on the Nanadebary bottle! The other is very classy!

My vanity tray of perfumes.

Gratitude

My bff, Ashley, took some more pictures of me today. Mainly, I wanted to get shots of the pyramid of rhinestones I had atop my head. Then I went on with my day, all the while developing this extreme since of gratitude. To be honest, like a lot of people, I hurry throughout my day - trying to be on time to things & not trip while running in heels - with a general sense of gratitude but not completely taking it all in and being truly thankful for it. I recognize how incredibly blessed I am....how I'm thankful to spend another day wandering this earth and chasing my dreams....how lucky I am to have a supportive and extremely close-knit family...how thankful I am to be a healthy young woman who is lucky enough to be taking any opportunity that comes my way...what a wonderful gift it is to have so many friends who love and believe in you unconditionally. I could go on and on, and one day I might :) But my whole point is that I am a point in my life where I couldn't be happier. My heart is so full of gratitude that I literally think it might burst! I just got engaged, too, which probably has something to do with it :) I just had to get that out there. Thanks for listening reading. I am also thankful for everyone who has chosen to "follow" me and for those who read my blog! I appreciate it more than you know!!

Headband from Kittie Kyle; Vintage belt

Getting my hair done tomorrow...sorry about the roots :)

Love this headbands like this for bad hair days!

I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on the way...

Yet another cold, snowy day in Nashville. Had dinner with my best friend, Ashley. We've been best friends since we were four! She's my new photographer since my boyfriend fiance is now in FL! (Thanks girl!) Sorry for the blurry pics...he also got to keep the good camera, ha! So now I'm stuck with the old one until I get a new one...which hopefully will be soon. While I'm on the subject, anyone have a suggestion on what camera to buy? I don't want to spend a ton of money, but I do want a nice camera that will take great pictures for the blog! Ashley gave me the Pioneer Woman's new cookbook, which can be found here. I cannot wait to try some of the fab recipes in there! I've already tried several, and they have all been amazing...especially the chicken spaghetti! That one is a must-try! Wanted to share a couple pics of my outfit - a new lace shirt a friend gave me for my birthday and an amazing rich, caramel-colored fox furr & leather collar from Kittie Kyle in Memphis, TN. Kittie Kyle is one of my favorite stores on earth!! (more on the store to come)

I've also been collecting a ton of images that just strike or inspire me, so I wanted to share a couple of those as well. A couple are from two of my favorite blogs - Life In Travel & Sea of Shoes.

From Style.com

Her style is impeccable! An all-black ensemble. Love it!

From http://chicsensibility.blogspot.com/

From Chic Sensibility; again...all black. :)

Gucci shoes -love the bronze color with the light wooden heel. Image from Sea of Shoes.

My DREAM shoe, leopard AND lace...wow! Louboutins from Life In Travel.

Super edgy, yet very wearable. From Life In Travel.

I wouldn't normally be drawn to these, but I think they would be a cool addition to my shoe collection. Proenza Schouler booties from Life In Travel.

No clue where I got this image (sorry), but I am crazy about the arm-full of random jewelry!

Red Dress. Special Day.

I have some amazing news to share, before I get into my actual blog .... I got engaged last night!!! On my birthday, too!!! What a fabulous birthday!! :) 

Since I've been in FL, we've eaten at some amazing restaurants. I wanted to share those, along with some pictures from last night. Got a special red dress from Barney's on the way down to FL. I decided on a red dress for 2 reasons. One, I need to incorporate more color into my wardrobe, especially since spring is right around the corner. I feel like I always buy things in black, and while I love the color, I need to get more colored pieces. Secondly, since I've been blonde, I've been liking the color red on me more and more. I thought this bright red dress could be worn a lot of ways, and I'm glad I got it! I wore the dress with one of my favorite pairs of sky-high black heels. They have a hidden platform inside, so they are very comfortable!

For lunch, Chris and I went to Yoder's, a quaint little place in Sarasota that we had seen on Man vs Food.  We were sold when we saw that they made tons of homemade desserts, the most popular being the Peanut Butter Cream Pie. Since we both love dessert, we thought this would be the perfect place for a birthday lunch. We were right...everything we had was amazing! (especially the pie!) That night, Chris and I went to the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota for drinks before dinner. The hotel was gorgeous. There were red roses all over the place, for Valentines Day. After he proposed (and calmed down), we met our friends for a birthday/celebration dinner at this cute tapas restaurant called Ceviche. Between the four of us we got 7-8 dishes. My favorties were the "ceviche de atun," sushi-grade tuna marinated in lemon, lime, cilantro, jalenpeno, and sweet onion.....the "gambas al ajillo," shrimp severed sizzling in garlic and EVOO and red peppers.....and the "table mixta," which was a plate full of meats, cheeses, and fruits! We also had an amazing champagne sangria, with tons of fruit floating around the glass! After dinner, we all came home and opened a bottle of 2005 Duckhorn Cabernet... hands down the best wine I've ever had!! What a great night!

Peanut Butter Cream Pie from Yoder's, complete with bday candle!

Ritz Carlton

Love these shoes!!

Some of our yummy food at Ceviche

Wanted to share this special moment with everyone reading :)

Greetings from Sarasota, FL

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while... Been super busy with work, then drove down to FL yesterday with my boyfriend. Loooooong drive! Thankfully, he let me stop in Atlanta to shop for an hour before driving the rest of the way. :)  Today, we decided to mess around Sarasota for the day, stopping to eat at "The Old Salty Dog Cafe." Chris and I love watching "Man vs Food" on the Travel Channel, and Adam went to The Old Salty Dog in one episode. We have a running list of restaurants we want to visit in different cities, and this was one of them. I just had to try the "salty dog." Let's just say it's not the best thing in the world for a person to eat. Ever. (You only live once, right???) I also had one of the best bloody marys I've ever had! It was super spicy, which totally does it for me in terms of any kind of food...especially bloody marys! Chris and I also went to watch the sunset on Anna Maria Island before dinner at The Waterfront Restaurant. It was beautiful - but very, very windy - as you can see in the pictures below.

One of the best-ever Bloody Marys

The Salty Dog, featured on Man vs Food

Snapping some quick pics before the wind blew us away... sorry about the car in the backgroud. Kind of came out of nowhere.

Bracelets I threw on for the adventure :)

Red Wine + cheese plate + beach = heaven.

He said since it was my b'day tomorrow, I could put a picture of him up on the blog!

This sunset is perfection!

Miel.

Last night, my boyfriend, a songwriter I work with, and I tried out a new restaurant called Miel. It's a French restaurant that serves local farm and artisan products It's in a weird area here in town, but the building and inside is very warm and charming. For appetizer, I had some of the BEST oysters I've ever had while dining in Nashville. (They came from Boston, so that explains it!) I also tried Foie Gras for the first time ever! I am an adventurous eater, but foie gras always kind of weirded me out. It was good and very tasty, but it was a little too fatty for my taste. Glad I tried it, but I think I'll stick with oysters from now on! I also tried Bouillabaisse for the first time. Bouillabaisse is a fish-type stew served in a tomato broth. There were prawns, scallops, muscles, and fish in the stew. I loved it and will definitely try it again next time I see it on a menu! We also had some amazing wine that went with everything we had. It is pictured below if you want the name. Miel means "honey" in French, so I was told last night. At the end of our dinner, the waiter brought out tiny spoonfuls on orange blossom honey. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic meal! If you're in Nashville I would highly recommend this place!

Foie gras

Another dish worth mentioning... the duck, it was a special last night. YUM!

                                                       My fabulous Bouillabaisse

Creme Brulee, inverted so that it's in a sugar cup! Very inventive!

My dessert choice: Profiteroles with hot fudge sauce