Awesome Birthday

Saturday was my 28th birthday. And it was freakin' awesome.

My awesome husband took me shopping for 8 hours. And bought me some awesome new clothes. And shoes. And jewelry. And fed me some awesome food (more about that tomorrow).

Here are some highlights of the awesome awesome clothes I got.

Wightwick Manor Dress from Anthropologie. Can't wait to wear this with my wide brown belt. I'm still undecided about whether boots will be too much with it. What shoes would you wear?

Tweedy Leaves Dress also from Anthropologie. So cute. I can't wait until it's under 90 degrees here so i don't feel like a crazy person wearing something that has a wool skirt.

Hot hot pencil skirt from J. Crew (my name for it, not theirs). Isn't that color just awesome?

Some TOMS. I'm dying over how comfortable these shoes are.

That's only a small percentage of all the stuff I scored. I had some major coupons, we found some great sales and my closet is looking a lot fuller.

Awesome birthday.

Anniversary Traditions (update)

I just realized that I never updated how Christian and I did on executing the traditional anniversary gifts: paper for the 1st year.

Well, I think we did pretty darn good.

I got Christian four cookbooks: Momofuku (we had our first real date at Momofuku Noodle Bar), Chanterelle and Staff Meals from Chanterelle (we had our six month dating anniversary there; sadly it's now closed), and The Foods of the Greek Islands (our honeymoon was in Lindos, Rhodes).

I gotta say, before the day, I was totally impressed with myself. Christian loves to cook, loves new cookbooks and those cookbooks all have great meaning for us. He was totally thrilled with them but I feel like his presents blew mine out of the water.

My "card" was actually a beautiful album he made for me on blurb.com, which made me cry like a baby. (My cards for him were from Target, btw.) And he got me the beautiful Frank Gehry heart pendant necklace from Tiffany seen above. Currently, it's off getting the chain lengthened because it was a little too short. I can't wait to wear it once it's back. What a show off.

Next year will be cotton. A little less than 50 weeks to figure that one out.

P.S. We also had an out of this world dinner at Uchiko here in Austin. That place probably deserves its own post.

Things I'm Currently Coveting

It's been a few months since I did one of these and I certainly haven't stopped coveting things so let's go.

First up, how cute would this dress be for work? Especially with my pixie cut (which currently is in major, major need of a trim). Vestiges from Anthropologie - I covet you. Hard.


I have no idea where I'd wear this next dress but I just love it so so so much. So much. I used to have a couple great black/white polka dot articles of clothing (a great dress, skirt, etc.) and now my wardrobe is totally lacking in that department. This Pebble Seraphina from J Crew would totally remedy that hole in my closet.

Things I'm Currently Coveting

I really want some new clothes. Really want. Forgive me for repeating myself. I know you've heard this all before :)

I'm hoping that after the move, once we're a little settled and the apartment is furnished enough to live in that I will get to finally go on a shopping spree. It's been too long.

In addition to new clothes and shoes, I also really want a new purse. Do I need new clothes and shoes? Yeah. Do I need a new purse? No way! I have so many already. But, they are my weakness. Okay, I'll be honest, ONE of my weaknesses.

Here are some beauties I would love to bring home.

Bisbee satchel from J Crew

I'm torn between the regular and mini truffle from Etsy seller Morelle. I'm also torn on what color to get but, since this isn't happening for at least a little while, for now, I'm digging the yellow. Nice and springy.

Finally, I think the Foliage Unfolded bag from Anthropologie just screams lounging around South Congress on a Saturday. Don't you? And that's what I plan on doing a lot of soon so I'm gonna need a bag to carry. Right? Right.

Things I'm Currently Coveting

I need new clothes. Seriously. Christian bought me a great new cardigan for Christmas and I've worn it 5 times already. And not with lots of different things either. With the same jeans, boots, tank and necklace. Too bad I have no money for new clothes. So, for now, I'll just covet them.

There's a ton of new stuff at Anthropologie that I would love to have.

First, I could really use some new tops. Right now, I've got a lot of tanks but not much else.

Of course, I always want more adorable dresses. How cute is the strapless one with the airplanes? Simply adorable.

Things I'm currently coveting

The Brigitta Dresser from Anthropologie


One of these plates from Etsy seller Ninainvorm

A house so I'd actually have some place to put the dresser. Said house would also have lots of cabinets in the kitchen in which to store the adorable plate without constantly worrying about Christian or I knocking it down and breaking it. That kind of thing is a constant worry in our apartment and not without cause.

And, of course, plenty of clothes, shoes and accessories from J Crew. Like these lovelies:

Fashion Week

Last night, I attended my first two Fashion Week shows (insert squee! here). My boss had two invitations but couldn't go at the last minute so I got to use one of his invites. It was totally cool and very different than I thought it would be.

The first show was the Chado Ralph Rucci show in the big tent. Please don't judge, but I had never heard of Rucci before arranging for my boss to go to the show. I assume that's because I'm too young and poor to be in his usual target audience.

Celebrity sightings included Martha Stewart, Miss J from ANTM and Andre Leon Talley. Sadly, I didn't get to tell Mr. Talley how much I enjoyed his tennis scene in The September Issue.

The show was absolutely gorgeous. If I was insanely (or even sanely) rich, I would have been marking down things to buy. Instead I was just sitting there in awe. Some of my favorite pieces (sadly, the style.com pics don't do them full justice) are below. The detailing on the back of the red dress and the burnt yellow (is that a color?) dress was fabulous.

Next, we went to the Vivienne Tam show. Pretty show and I loved how she styled the models but most of the clothes weren't really my personal style.

Some things I learned at the shows:

1) The music they play is sometimes extremely loud. Like you're in a club. This was the case at the Rucci show. It was a little jarring for me to be looking at such exquisite dresses while surrounded by booming music.

2) I thought I'd get some real swag. I didn't. I got this cool notebook from the Vivienne Tam show but that was it. I think if I would have had the opportunity to walk around more maybe I could've scored something else but I was really hoping for some goody bags on our seats.

3) The flooring in the lobby area is straight Bryant Park. They don't deck over it in that area so you get your heel caught and it makes for a little awkward walking when you're trying to rock high heels.

The September Issue

Today, I left work a couple minutes early to watch The September Issue.  Good research for my current project at work ;)

Not the greatest documentary I've ever seen, but it had some good moments.  I think the main problems were a lack of real tension/conflict and a feeling like Anna Wintour was really controlling herself for the cameras.  

Keep an eye out for a couple gems.  There's one scene with Andre Leon Talley on the tennis court that is absolutely hilarious.  Who knew Louis Vuitton made tennis racket cases?  Not me!  Also, I can't be sure, but I think Sienna Miller referred to her assistant as "my assist".   And, of course, it's got some great fashion.