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NYFW A/W ’19 Recap Part One

March 7, 2019

This post (NYFW A/W ’19 Recap Part One), contains affiliate links. Clicking on them or making purchases through them may provide me with a small commission. This post is brought to you in part by VB Studio, Valley NYC, DreamDry, Pucker, SuperJeweler, and Atrium Dumbo. All thoughts and opinions are, as always, my own.

Well, hello, loves!
Let’s cut right to the sparkly pink elephant in the room. Yes, NYFW took place almost a month ago, and I’m JUST NOW getting my posts up. If I had known how much stress I would be putting on myself by planning a wedding almost entirely solo, I probably would have skipped it altogether. That’s real talk! All of the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes in to a successful NYFW trip is no easy task! But regardless, I went, I had lots of fun, attended some amazing shows, and I’m so thankful that I was able to be part of all of the magic that is NYFW.

I’ve decided to just do two posts to include my time in New York, partially because I’m sure y’all don’t want 4 lengthy posts documenting what most of you have already seen on stories. Also because half of the designers whose shows I attended didn’t get back to me with pictures of their collection. I digress..

My first day was a logistical nightmare. I landed at LaGuardia at 11 AM and after a half hour of password-resetting attempts, my phone wouldn’t let me log in to Juno (an NY-only based ride sharing service). It’s cheaper than Lyft and Uber, but I ended up having to book one of them. I plugged in the address of where I was planning to store my luggage temporarily, and we were on our way! A few minutes into the ride, I got an alert that the location was closed. Long story short, the driver told me he couldn’t change the destination and let me out of the car basically at the freeway offramp somewhere in Brooklyn. I had to call another car, and finally made it to Williamsburg to the new storage spot. Cute area, great bagels, moving on..

I took the train into the city, grabbed the house key from my roommate for the week, and took the train back to get my luggage. Another Uber, and I landed at my temporary home, in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn. Side note, I had NO idea how big Brooklyn actually is. More on that later. I steamed all my clothes, settled in, showered, and got ready for dinner. I wanted to treat my roomies to a nice dinner, so we headed to Peaches. So good, highly recommend them. But easy on the shrimp and grits, it’s half cheese and made my tummy hurt from trying to eat it all, so definitely split that with someone.

The next day, I took the “Q” into the city and met up with my girl Alyssa from @lifeandstylebyap. We’d planned on doing 90% of things together, and I was SO happy to see her lovely face! We grabbed coffee, and headed to our first appointment of the day at VB Studio. Super cute, no frills spot. We were treated to blowouts (and champagne!) and Alyssa made an appointment to come back later to get her extensions re-done. The weather unfortunately took a toll (it was drizzling) and my hair was flat about 30 minutes after we’d left. My hair HATES humidity, and never holds curl or volume when it’s around. Not the salon’s fault, just crappy timing.

Outfit details:
Coat (under $100 and one of my faves of the season) & Dress (doesn’t the dandelion print give you all the Gossip Girl vibes!? Just me? OK…)
Bag (linking similar) / Loeffler Randall // Booties (I sized up to a 7.5) / Target // Necklace / Kyle Chan Love Initials

A quick walk and train ride later, we were at Valley Nails. Their space is SO adorable, and I was finding something new and pretty to stare at in every corner. My tech did a great job at applying the gold holographic foil. Y’all know I love my gold everything! Over the next couple days though, I noticed staining, chipping and peeling. Alyssa had a similar issue, but was able to go back to have them fixed. Apparently, her second set didn’t stain and lasted a lot longer, not sure what happened with that first round! I’d try them out again, just maybe go for a darker color.

Ring (comes in a set of 3) / Gorjana

Yay, onto our first show! And I have to say, one of my favorites of the season. Jiri Kalfar opened with legendary supermodel Paulina Porizkova (said in my best Tyra Banks voice), and continued on with such energy, and truly beautiful designs.

We learned a sneaky little trick, since the next show was at the same venue… We hopped to the front of the newly formed line to go back in, instead of going outside and waiting for check-in to start again. Hogan McLaughlin was the next designer to have his pieces come down the runway, and while the clothes were stunning, they were a bit high concept for me. I still appreciated the art of his designs, and it was another great show.

Off to the final fashion event of the evening, a presentation by Celestino Couture. They gave the incorrect address on the invite, and Alyssa & I, along with 6 other guests, were wandering around for 20 minutes before we learned of the new location. Gorgeous, intricate designs, breathtaking embellishments and embroidery, and a show-stopping pink gown as the highlight (it’s saved to my, ahem, highlights). Worth the hassle of finding the spot ? Most of the designs I felt had a vintage, almost time period quality to them, but made current for wearing today.

Alyssa was off to dinner with friends, and I was supposed to head to a shopping event, but your girl’s feet were done. Like bleeding ankles, done. I hobbled to the train after chowing down some pizza, and got off a couple stops from home to walk around Target barefoot until I found my favorite new (lifesaver) pink sneakers on the clearance rack. Oh, the glamour….

Friday was probably my most stressful day of the trip.
Blowouts at DreamDry and makeup at Pucker were exquisite, as always, and I will continue to work with and support them. The artists are always so talented, and actually work with you to create the vision you dreamed of.

The details!
Lightweight Trench / Nordstrom // Midi skirt (also comes in plus) / Nordstrom // Bodysuit / Free People // Belt bag (under $30) / Steve Madden //
Necklace / Kyle Chan Design // Earrings / vintage // Sneakers / Target (yay!) // hand warmers / Alpaca farm in New Jersey

After that, we headed to the Fashion Hong Kong runway show, and even though we arrived 15 minutes before the show started, we were 6 people deep in the standing section and couldn’t see a thing. Like not even a sliver of the runway. Hey, it happens sometimes. We decided to leave so Alyssa could get to her extension appointment, and I went home to change and rest. I believe this is when I learned that the “Q” train would now be down for maintenance the rest of the weekend, causing me to take… alternate means of transportation.

We met up again around 4 to shoot near the Manhattan bridge, to mixed results. About 30 other bloggers and their photographers had the same idea, and the sun was already pretty far set. Earlier is definitely the way we’ll go next season! Oh, and it was trash day. And windy AF.

Those deets!
Bodysuit (super comfortable to wear and under $60) / Nordstrom // Skirt / TopShop // Bag (sold out, linking similar) / Zara // Bracelet c/o SuperJeweler // Booties / Forever 21 // Ring / Aurate NYC // Earrings / vintage

On to dinner at Atrium Dumbo. I didn’t know if I was going to mention this or not, but I think it’s important to share, for any bloggers out there reading this, how important being accountable is. When you commit to a business or brand, it’s your, and sometimes other’s reputations on the line. I hate to sound like I’m scolding people here, but I spend hours planning meet ups so bloggers and influencers can connect in person, and also to bring exposure to awesome restaurants, and when people don’t show, it’s like a slap in the face!

So Alyssa and I planned on meeting three other bloggers there at 5:00 for a dinner I’d coordinated. One of them even said she was currently getting in a cab after stopping by her apartment to change, and was on her way. Alyssa and I waited until 6:00, and no one else showed. I also learned that even though we’d finalized a lunch for the following day at another restaurant more than a week prior, those girls had no intention of showing to that meet up either. We were disappointed, embarrassed, and hungry, to be honest, because they were waiting for the rest of our party to arrive before serving us. We explained the situation to the manager, offering to pay for the cheese plate we’d picked at, and he was very understanding and invited Alyssa and myself back another time. I think for future meet ups, I will require a deposit to hold people’s spots, which hopefully will have them actually respecting everyone’s time by showing up!

I will say that the space is stunning, the service was attentive, and the vibe was unpretentious and utterly romantic. Alyssa and I both remarked that it would be the perfect spot to be proposed to!

We then headed to Ciccio for wine and for something to eat (they forgot to ring in my food, even after being reminded when Alyssa’s food arrived, so annoying!), before meeting up with a large group of fellow bloggers at Bar Hugo. Such a cool space, and they actually let us enjoy a complimentary drink and private space so we could all chat and FINALLY see each other in person! I talked to @girlmeetsbow, @miss_alk, @payt_reed, whom I’d never met before, along with @kristinacatherinemcinnis and fellow Chicagoan @caitpatton. So many fantastic ladies in one place! So I will say that the night did end on a high note.

Stay tuned for the rest of my NYFW experience in Part 2!

And don’t forget to check out my past NYFW coverage from last season, and last year!

NYFW Spring/Summer ’19 Days 1 & 2 Recap

September 20, 2018

This post is created in partnership with Delsey, Aldo, Eliza J, Kestan, and TheeGirl. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links and clicking on them/buying items through them may provide me with a small commission.

Sweater (regular/plus) / Maurices // Jeans / Mavi // Sneakers c/o Aldo (so obsessed with these, they are like metallic mermaid print and magically go with everything!) // Luggage c/o Delsey (currently over $200 off!) // Necklace / Kyle Chan Love Initials

Oh my goodness, dolls.. It has been an adventure to get to where I am now (mostly literally ?). Not only did we pack up a admittedly overstuffed 3 bedroom house and move cross-country via road trip with 2 dogs, but 5 days after, I packed up again and flew by myself to New York for Fashion Week! I have SO much content to share with y’all so I’m going to break the posts up into NYFW Days 1 & 2, 3 & 4 and 5 & 6, so I don’t overwhelm everyone, including myself. I’ll also be sharing a few tips on attending and some observations I’ve made over this season and the last, (I attended in February as well, check out those posts here for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3/4).

This time, a group of us (9 influencers and one photographer), for our lodging accomodations worked with a company called Domio, which is similar to AirBnB but soooo much improved, in my opinion. Domio is just moving in to the New York area and we had the opportunity to stay at one of their properties that is not even on their website yet. We were ALL trepidatious about 10 ladies staying under the same roof during the flurry of Fashion Week, but I’ve got to say, we all had enough room to spread out, and boy, did we! I’ll be sharing some shots of our apartment on my last post, but for now, I’ve got to share with you some of the fashion!

After landing, I took the Newark Airport Express shuttle bus to the city, which is a great option when flying in to EWR. It’s only $31 for a round-trip ticket, versus around $70 for an uber. I met up with Lauryn from @lauryncakes outside of our apartment, but unfortunately it wasn’t ready for us to explode upon just yet.. Not Domio’s fault, we both just arrived HOURS before check-in. We hauled all of our stuff to the nearest Starbucks, put on full faces of makeup at the table, and changed into our first look. We were joined by Caitlin of @caitpatton, and Cait and I headed off to Spring Studios for our very first show!

Now, I will say that I didn’t get too many still pics of the fashion shows this season… It’s just too rough, unless there is a presentation. However, I have saved all show coverage on my Instagram Stories, if you wanna go check those out. So here is where the tips and what have you come in to play. I was told to get to the show 30-60 mins before start time. I actually arrived about an hour and 20 minutes prior, and stood in line for ONE HOUR AND 45 MINUTES. Now… I’m not saying that I am not incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go to a major runway show, and have a seat on top of that, but girrrrrl, my feet were killing me! So first tip… Yes, arrive early, (but not too early), stand in line and be respectable. But for the love of everything, wear shoes that you know won’t wreck your feet after standing in place for an extreme period of time. My blisters had names by the end of the day.

The first show we went to was Tadashi Shoji, and WOW, so many gorgeous designs, I was clapping in my head during the entire runway. I also couldn’t help but notice Heather Graham, Dascha Polanco, and Tess Holliday sitting front row, hello! Cait and I met up with her friend Austen of @austentosone, and we did a quickie photo shoot across the street from the event space, which I shared on Instagram and Eliza J was so amazing to share on their feed as well, so thank you, Eliza J!

Dress c/o Eliza J // Bag / Target (old Phillip Lim collab) // Heels / vintage // Necklace c/o Kestan

Side note, can you tell the difference in the color of my legs? I was still having to wear a compression sock on my right leg because of my sclerotherapy battle wound, but thankfully, I think the nude shade wasn’t TOO different from my own skin. It probably would have been an exact match, except I was a little red from all of the running around and sweating in the low 90’s heat.

After this, we headed back to the apartment to check in, unload all of our stuff, meet up with the roomies who had arrived while we were gone, and then get ready for the next event!

Jozy (@blondeblissblog), Leslie (@dear.kindred), Courtney (@courteypecorinophoto), and I all headed to the Banana Republic store for the Bumble event. The real treat was to hear the Foster sisters, Erin & Sara, speak on gender equality, creating content, female empowerment and so much more. What I didn’t know is that they are both hysterical and I could pretty much listen to them feed off of each other all day long. On that note, going to check to see if they have a podcast… OK, so it doesn’t look like they have one, but they did inspire me to download the Bumble app to see if it could lead to me meeting new people, now that we’re settling into the Chicago area. More on that later!

After the event, the four of us went to a fantastic little tapas restaurant that I now for the life of me can’t remember the name of. But it was good. We were all so wiped after the long day of traveling and whatnot that we headed back to the apartment and knocked out. Good thing too, because Leslie and I had the most jam-packed ever schedule for Day #2.

OK, so I wasn’t expecting to write this much in each post, but I feel like each day was so full, it kind of just gets long, you know? So Day 2 included Leslie and myself waking up at 5:45 AM, (I was supposed to wake at 5:15 but like a ding-dong set my alarm for PM instead of AM, insert face palm), to take a $45 uber to Brooklyn to get all kinds of dolled up for a photo shoot for SoCal dress brand, Thee Girl. It’s been a long time coming, me working with this brand. They didn’t offer any size above a Large, but I was asked to help with the launch of their new extended size range, woohoo!! I’ll try not to overload y’all, but we took some reallllly good shots!

Dress c/o Thee Girl // Heels (on sale under $15!!) / Maurices // Earrings & Necklace c/o @collette_marie_jewelry

How stunning does Leslie look in that sheer overlay gown???
TBH, the first thing I saw when I looked at these shots is wow, I’ve gained some weight. My hips look ginormous, my thighs are all dimpled, I’m so damn pale… And then all of a sudden, I was like, why am I talking down on them? Yes, those are all traits that I have, but that doesn’t mean the pics aren’t still gorgeous and that I look really good in that dress?! I know it’s not just me, but sometimes it is SO easy to play the comparison game and get down on yourself for supposed imperfections. I’m trying to learn to appreciate the “flaws” as just part of what makes me, me.

OK, guys, and this is where I take a moment to get a bit serious and tell you the whole story. Shortly after Leslie and I got back from our shoot, my phone rang and it was my mom. I instantly got a bad feeling and my throat was tight when I answered. She said “Hi”, and then told me she was calling to let me know that my grandfather had passed away in his sleep that morning. I’m now crying as I type this because I didn’t really have a chance to process it then. He was 96 years old and lived a long and full and beautiful life, and can now be at peace with my grandmother, who passed a year and a half ago. I wouldn’t say that the news was completely unexpected, but I definitely thought I’d have another chance to go back home to see him again, and I deeply regret not doing that sooner. My mom asked what I was up to, and I told her I was in New York, (she had forgotten I was going to Fashion Week), and she told me to put the news out of my mind as best I could so I would be able to enjoy every moment. She told me that Papa was proud of me for working so hard to get where I am and he wouldn’t want to put a damper on my plans. And you know, she was right. Papa was one of those selfless people who always wanted to make others happy and put their needs before his own, especially with regards to my grandmother. I could only hope to be so devoted to someone after 60 years of marriage. We just booked our flights to fly back to San Diego next weekend for the services, and are still trying to figure out what to do with the dogs. I might do a post on loss later, because I have so much to say on that topic, but for now, back to the reason you came here!

@dear.kindred; me; @blondeblissblog; @raelynsroulette
Shot by Courtney Pecorino Photo
Immediately following the shoot, we raced back to our Murray Hill apartment to decompress, change, and then race to our next event, the Fashion Palette show featuring a plethora of awesome Australian designers, such as Elliatt and Harvey the Label. Unfortunately, even though we were technically 10 minutes early (and thats after someone else’s ticket issue held us at the door for 5 minutes), they had already given away our seats! So my coverage of that show was not as good as it could have been, I’m just sayin’. Something to be wary of as well.. Your seating situation can change at a moment’s notice. You can go from standing to seated or seated to being shoved in the back in the far corner jusssst like that. But it’s all part of the ride!

After that, we jetted over to the Eliza J showroom to check out their newest collection (OMG, swoon!!) I was beyond excited to run in to Kim from @liveloveblank in the their lobby! We’ve been following each other for years, and it was so nice to finally connect in person. She is one of those people who is EXACTLY like she is in her stories… another running conversation in my apartment was how each of us kept meeting people at random events and them being so completely opposite of their persona on Insta. I’m talking specifically about girls who are cheery, bubbly, tote being highly religious and/or inclusive in their bios and then treating some of my roomies and me like absolute dog shit. I’m not going to name names, but some of these chicks were so aggressively rude for NO reason, I just don’t get it.
Note to everyone, having 500K followers on Insta (or whatever platform or whatever number), does NOT EVER make you more important, more entitled, or just plain better than anyone else in this world. Get your shit together, ladies!!

Time for a little photo shoot in front of the apartment!

Trench & Necklace c/o Kestan // Tank / Nordstrom Rack find // Jeans / Black Orchid Denim // Bag / Loeffler Randall // Sneakers / Superga // Earrings / Banana Republic
Shot by Courtney Pecorino Photo

I honestly don’t even remember what we had for dinner because it was such an exhausting day. Another little honesty bit is that we actually had THREE more fashion shows to attend this day and missed them all. The first, because our shoot ran crazy long, and the other two we were too overwhelmed and already beat to be able to enjoy. So note for next time, schedule no more than 2 shows and 2 events per day, and budget TONS of time for anything that’s beyond your control.
Hope you enjoyed to post, loves, and stay tuned for the next two chapters in my recap!

Getting Your Best StitchFix Ever

January 10, 2018

This post was created in partnership with StitchFix. Items in the post were provided to me for reviewing purposes. This post also contains affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Hey, babes!
I hope everyone has had an incredible beginning to the New Year! Mine has been SUPER productive, and I am so excited to share that I have been spending a lot of my time planning my upcoming trip to New York Fashion Week! It’s less than a month away, so believe me when I say that I’m a little stressed getting everything lined up. Back to present day, I’m happy to bring you this month’s StitchFix, but this round is a little different… I’m also going to be sharing how to get your best fix EVER by communicating with your stylist, how to truly voice your opinion, and what I feel makes for the best fix.

In case you’ve been under a rock and haven’t heard about the awesomeness that is StitchFix, it is a service that delivers curated pieces to your door as frequently as you like. You fill out a detailed questionnaire, including how much you’d like to spend, your body shape, areas you like to flaunt/hide, and so much more, so they can really get to know your style. You send back what you don’t like, and they only keep the $20 styling fee if you don’t purchase anything from the fix, otherwise it goes towards whatever you buy, AND you get 25% off if you buy everything.

First up, communication is KEY! There are several ways to make your voice heard with your stylist. The one I always get very detailed on is the “note to stylist,” where I can request specific pieces for events, certain fabrics, lengths, anything that I would like to wear in the next couple months. When I was headed to Vegas year before last, I requested a “Vegas-worthy midi dress,” and for a brunch with the girls, I wanted an “off-the-shoulder floral top,” and that’s exactly what I received. I love that the stylists try so hard to match up my requests, and sometimes I wonder how much time they must spend searching for the perfect item for me!

I’ve also thrown out pretty broad requests, like in this fix, I wanted a pair of dark distressed jeans, colored blazer, and another midi dress. I was super happy with the pieces they selected, although the blazer was just a touch snug, so I’m currently wearing it as a cape! It’s also important to give feedback on past fixes, such as when something was too tight in the hips (usually the case with button-down shirts for me), or too short (I generally don’t wear anything above the knee). Once your stylist knows your tastes and fit more in more depth, they can use that info when planning your next fix.

Another way to share your style preferences is through creating and sharing a Pinterest board. We’re already all spending hours a day on Pinterest anyway haha, so start creating a board of styles you would actually wear, and link it for your stylist in your StitchFix profile! I have tons of midi skirts, floral prints, comfy cardigans, and fun work looks on mine. I know my stylist references it whenever she’s planning a fix for me, because influences from it are so apparent with her choices. It’s also so important, I believe, to focus on your lifestyle and what you truly will wear. If you work an 8-5, only go out to meet the girls for brunch, and don’t like showing your legs, than it’s probably not the best idea to link a street-style thigh-grazing look that you’ll never get any use out of. By the same token, if you’d like to get a little adventurous with color, patterns and prints, and maybe highlighting your décolletage for instance, don’t be afraid to share some pins that pull elements you’d like to experiment with.

I hope these tips have been helpful for you! It’s taken me a little bit to get my bearings with the service, but as you can tell by this being my 28th fix (!!!), I truly am enjoying it. StitchFix is offering to all of my readers their first styling fee waived! Now you have nothing to lose, and a closet full of cute clothes to gain 😀

Jacket and midi dress c/o StitchFix // Heels / Nordstrom Rack // Clutch / TopShop // Necklace Luv AJ // Glasses / EyeBuyDirect
The color of this blazer is so unexpected, and actually pairs with more in my closet than I anticipated. I can definitely picture pairing it with a floral skirt, or jeans and a white tee.

Top and jeans c/o StitchFix // Booties / JustFab // Necklace / Rocksbox // Glasses / EyeBuyDirect
The mesh cutout on the back of this top is such a cute and interesting detail! I loved making a jeans and tee combo just a little bit fancier and brunch-worthy by adding a statement necklace and gold-specked ankle booties.

Top and jeans c/o StitchFix // Necklace / gift // Ring / LA gift show // Metallic sandals / JustFab // Glasses / EyeBuyDirect
This top is definitely my favorite find of the fix. Mark and I went out to date night in this very outfit after my shoot, and I definitely turned some heads! The color is so saturated and the ruffle neckline is very flattering!

Don’t forget, all of my readers get their styling fee waived on their first fix! Hope you enjoy!

Fall Florals Button Maxi Dress

October 10, 2017

This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on these links or buying items through them may provide me with a small commission.

Hello, beauties!
I know you may be thinking, “Hey, does that dress look familiar?” Well, you’d be right, because this is a very similar style to a dress that I wore recently, just in a slightly different and more fall-tastic color palette. I was so in love with the first style I bought, I wanted to see what other patterns it came in.. Turns out, the answer is – a lot! Just about 35 variations on the same dress, and I’ve got my eye on at least 2 others for fall. The length is perfect on me, (I’m 5’7″), the material is slightly stretchy and lightweight without being transparent, and the button-details, although a pain in the ass the first time you close them all up, look so pretty spanning the front of the dress.
I can say that without a doubt that my mentality of “If you find something you like, buy it in multiple colors” came from my mom. As a young teenager, it was pretty difficult to find clothing in my size that was actually cute, so when my mom took me shopping and I found something that fit, she would encourage me to find every variation they offered! So sometimes, I would come home with 3 butterfly-print maxi skirts with different colored backgrounds. It’s been a little difficult to break that mentality EVERY time I go shopping haha, but a girl has to set a budget eventually!
What’s something you’ve purchased multiples of? I’d love to hear what was good enough to go back for seconds, or thirds!

Dress / Amazon // Bag / Vince Camuto // Mules / Abound at Nordstrom Rack (linking similar) // Bracelet / Sweet Lola // Necklace / FabFitFun

Shot by Holli Z Photography.