Berry Berry Quite Contrary

This week has been an exhausting one. Emotional rollercoaster at best. Luckily it was a pretty great week aside from the wild ride. Wednesday night I headed over to Lauren's house and we, along with the other Lauren (we need nicknames for y'all!), made homemade pizza (with eggplant!) and crafted our own hula hoops. Lauren #1 is a rad hooper and even hoops the half marathon every year! She taught us some moves and helped us create our own hoop to learn/practice on. I'm kind of excited! Hope I can get it down haha It was a great way to spend a stormy evening that's for sure.

Thursday was a "relax" day. I took most of the day off of design work so I could just enjoy some Toby/Mike time. We watched some tv, ran some errands, took the dogs to the dog park and spent some time at the playground as usual. We may or may not have ended the night with an ice cream cone... which resulted in Toby wearing most of it haha He hasn't quite mastered the "lick where it's melting" part yet. We spent last night working on wedding crafts, and Toby had a blast trying to help us. He's at that age where he wants to help do everything. Even the smallest tasks. And he gets super proud of himself for successfully doing something. I love that.

This morning we woke up pretty early and got ready to meet Beca and Doug at Nashville Biscuit House. They were driving through on their way to Chicago today (Renegade starts tomorrow!) so it was awesome to have an excuse to see them again. Can't wait to see what Beca whips up for the dessert table at the wedding! We all enjoyed a delicious southern breakfast and we talked for ages and ages. I love when they come to town. Such rad people for sure.

Right now I'm tidying up my office (our house is a wreck from crafting last night!) and preparing some design projects to send off. I'm trying to also organize all of the wedding stuff that has come through the mail. Utensils, mason jars, chips, etc. I put in a big order last night for some eco-confetti, decor pieces, cotton stalks and Texas tallow berries! The race is on!

These outfit photos are from two weeks ago, and they're already so weird to look at because I've since gotten two rather large tattoos added onto my legs. You can see my feet healing and peeling in the photo above, too. I was really excited to be able to get the two pieces that I had wanted foreverrrrr in the past week. I'll share better pictures of everything once they're all healed. I'll be taking a tattoo break for a bit since I won't want anything mid-heal for the wedding/honeymoon. Speaking of the honeymoon, I should probably find my passport. That could be less than ideal...

I found this dress in my closet after ages of not wearing it. I decided to give it another go before tossing it out and I'm glad I did. It's much classier than most of the dresses I gravitate toward. I paired it with my new yellow suede shoes from Oasap and I am in love. These are the perfect flat. I used to have vintage ones just like them and I lost them in the flood. They make me think of Minnie Mouse every time. 

Here's to an exciting and productive weekend! Hope you all had a great week! xo

Charlotte Russe dress (err, I think?)
Target cardigan
Honeybean brooch
Forever 21 bracelets
TJ Maxx purse
Yellow shoes c/o Oasap

// Garden Rose

Shelby Park is one of my absolute favorite places to take outfit photos. It doesn't hurt that it's only a couple of minutes from our house, but it's also full of beautiful backdrops and scenery. The constant traffic inside the park is less than ideal, and the stares are plentiful when you're trying to get your ~mawdul poses on, but I guess that's to be expected when you're being a bit self-interested and you have pink hair ;) I didn't really like this outfit while I was wearing it, but looking at the photos (these are from Monday), I really kind of dig it. 

I snagged this dress at the Bettie Page boutique on Haight St. in San Francisco back in June. Melissa, Tieka and I perused Haight-Ashbury for a bit after our long day at the Adobe headquarters and I knew I had to have this dress when I saw it. I didn't even try it on, I just hoped for the best. Luckily it's perfect. I toned down the "whoa!" with a neutral grey cardi (I own so many grey cardigans!) and kept the hair simple with just a braided "headband".

I picked up this little clutch on mega clearance at TJ Maxx a couple of weeks ago and it was the perfect match for this dress and my MIA wedges. I topped it all off with a beautiful handmade necklace from the darling Sarah of Copperhead Creations. The little flowers are so dainty and sweet when juxtaposed with the hard lines of the foundation. Listen to me, I sound like someone who knows what she's talking about. (Just kidding). Her shop has so many pretty things though. Definitely worth a gander!

While it's a bit hard to see, I feel it's worth it to talk about the lip color I'm wearing in these photos, too. It's some cheap less-than-$3 lipcolor from Forever 21 in a really really bright pink. I loved the look of it so I picked it up and finally wore it yesterday. I really expected it to be super opaque and bright, but it was almost like a tinted moisturizing stick. It definitely had some pigment, but it was very subtle and it was so incredibly nice. I was honestly throughly surprised. I definitely don't knock cheap/drugstore makeup as I have my favorites for sure, but I kind of love this stuff. It didn't have a color name on it but just get the really really really bright pink one!

Yesterday we headed down to Columbia to take care of a few things like preparing for upcoming events (vague!), get some of Mike's dress pants hemmed and some of my dresses fixed, as well as getting my wedding dress altered a bit (!!!). I've been putting it on and prancing around the house just for the fun of it and I'm getting so excited. Mike picked out my wedding shoes and I'm trying to figure out what cardigan to wear. It's like 38 days away and we don't have a caterer, DJ, justice of the peace, decorations or hay bales. We're just winging it at this point. Am I crazy? I think I'm crazy. I did finally order our wedding rings last night though.

Beach Bash dress (via Bettie Page SF)

Target cardigan

Thrifted belt

The Kansal necklace c/o Copperhead Creations

TJ Maxx clutch

MIA Jukebox wedges

Polly Pollock

To be honest, I never thought I'd wear this dress. I ordered it off of Ideeli at some point last year (or maybe earlier this year?) and I used some credit that I had in my account for it. It arrived and I was kind of like "yiiiiikes!" The print is wild and busy (think of a Pollock painting) and the shoulders on it definitely make it more of an evening-appropriate garment. But it is so incredibly well made. It's a very thick twill fabric which means it holds its shape nicely and doesn't take off with the wind. I put it on for the first time the other day when I was deciding what would go in my ThreadFlip Closet shop and I decided to give this one a real chance. I'm really glad I did because I love it. It's the perfect mix of crazy but chic. In my opinion at least! I think the red lipstick went perfectly with it.

These photos are from last weekend before I took to the sickness. This was the outfit I changed into after wearing this one. We went to every TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshall's in the area on the hunt for specific bowties and suspenders. It was a productive day to say the least.

I was feeling loads better yesterday in terms of being sick, but it's like as soon as the sun starts to set I start taking a backset to it. I feel pretty crappy right now. Coughing, can't breathe through my nose, etc. I'm just hoping it clears up before work. I know all of that smoke in the bar will notttt help. I also don't want to pass off what I have to anyone else. That'd not only be totally irresponsible but also awful because I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy haha

I have a few deadlines to meet today for projects and absolutely no clue how I'm going to do it. I thought for sure I'd be back to 100% by today so I didn't stress it much. It's like I'm incapable of stressing about things that I really maybe kind of should stress over, but give me the most irrelevant and minuscule thing and I will blow it all sorts of outta proportion. Can anyone relate? Just me?

I had both of my feet colored yesterday. They're still a bit sore and swollen today but I'm happy to have the feet done. It's really just going to look like I'm wearing socks all the time since they cover every inch that isn't hidden by flats. You can kind of get what I mean by the photos above. 

And just because Toby is really really cute, here are some photos of him. This top one is totally what our outfit adventures look like haha I know I look totally unamused but I actually didn't even notice he did this until later! That kid is basically a monkey. The bottom one is my favorite though. He's precious. I can't get over how happy he looks! He knew it was time to go to the playground. Anyway, sorry for image overload today! Having stockpiled outfits comes in handy when you refuse to get out of your yoga pants and sweatshirt. Don't judge me.

Jessica Simpson dress
Forever 21 purse
Thrifted belt (I think? IDK)
Lucky Brand flats

PS: I promise I'll stop spamming you with outfits! haha 3 or 4 in one week? That's a lot for me! I know I totally can't keep up with that kind of momentum :P

Riverwalking

This is what I wore for the first half of yesterday. I ended up changing for the latter part of the day, but I'll share that outfit another time! We didn't have much going on yesterday and we wanted to kind of take it easy before throwing ourselves back into work today, so we opted to head over to the East Bank Greenway of the Cumberland River to shoot a few rolls of film. We took a few minutes to snap these outfit photos, too. Not the best or most flattering, but I'm wearing the daylights out of this dress since picking it up in Indianpolis this past week. In all of my years living in the Nashville area, I've never once ventured down to the East Bank (or Riverfront on the other side, either!) I'm standing at the southern most entrance of L.P. Field (where the Tennessee Titans play) in these photos and that's a fairly good indication as to why we avoid it haha Game days call for the most insane traffic ever, but Sunday was the perfect chance to check it out. You can see Nashville's iconic "Batman" building behind me, too! I can't think of a better way to frame the most notable building in our skyline.

I've been taking noticeable steps toward "accessorizing" lately. I greatly prefer gold over silver and layering up with bracelets has been super fun. This sweet arrow necklace from Creature Comfort ties in the gold + grey perfectly, if I do say so myself! It's dainty and sweet, that's for sure. Then the large spike bracelet totally gives a boost of edge. Or maybe I just think too much into it!

This cardigan is seriously years old but it's one of my favorites. It fits very loosely and it's lightweight, too, so it's a great Summer coverup. Also - how cute is this mustard belt on this dress?! I let it roll up and sit too high in these photos so it's super unflattering, but it's really a darling piece. The pleats on the blush colored skirt are just too much, I love it. I snagged it at a local boutique in Indianapolis called Pitaya. The shop girl was super sweet and friendly -- leagues above most of the other boutiques we stopped by. (I have a personal rule with myself never to purchase product from a shop whose associates aren't friendly and welcoming. Some shop-keeps didn't even acknowledge us with so much as a glance upon entering. Tangent rant over :P)

Mike and I booked our honeymoon last night! Finally! Wedding things are slowly but surely happening. I'm wondering when the fire will get lit under my butt about it all. As long as we end up married, right?! Still so much to do.... ahh. I'll share more about where we stand on wedding plans come Wednesday. I'm off to work on a few design commissions and send off the last bit of the invites for the happy day!

Ezra dress via Pitaya boutique
Wet Seal cardigan
Sunglasses c/o Romwe
Forever 21 headband
Arrow necklace c/o Creature Comfort
Forever 21 bracelets
Spike bracelet via Edition 01
Blowfish platforms via Haute Look

Neon Frontier

I've never been a neon person. Never. Like, I detested the entire fluorescent color spectrum. I'm just not really a "bold" color person. Well, until recently. Something clicked and I honestly think it was because of this bag. I branched out with LuLu*s and went for something I never would've normally picked myself due to the color, but I loved the structure, shape, and size of the bag. It was like opening a package that had exploded with highlighter. Then all of a sudden I was buying neon nail polish and wearing the bag everywhere. I think I transformed into a new person overnight. (Such an exaggerated account of not liking neon and then kind of loving it, but hey, it's true!) I've been wearing the bag with literally everything, even pastels and bold prints. Probably a huge fashion faux pas on my end but decided to try and play up the color by wearing a mostly black and white outfit. I haven't worn this dress in over a year so it was nice to break it free from the confines of my closet, though I bet it'll make the next Kaelah's Closet round to be honest.

I asked Mike how he'd feel if I had pink hair for our wedding. Like I mentioned in my last outfit post, something about pink just makes me feel slightly more alive. It'd match our wedding decor and my dress perfectly, but I'll probably tame it down a ton. I've actually been toying with the idea of going back brunette for the big day, but I'm terrified it'll end up almost black like last time! I haven't been to an actual hair stylist in almost seven years! I'm so scared to let someone else touch it. If I screw it up, oh well, that's on me. But I hate giving that control to someone else! haha I'm a big baby about it. Plus I have no clue how I'll wear my hair for the wedding, or what kind of hair piece/veil I'll have. I'm really leaving it to the 11th hour, I know.

I'm slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things since getting home from our little trip. The film is in the mail and hopefully I'll have scans in about two weeks or so. I'll do a little rundown on what we did, where we went/ate/shopped soon though. Until then you can always check out Susannah's Tuesday Recap if you want! She's a way better storyteller than I am. I didn't even remember doing half of that stuff! haha Horrible memory makes for a sometimes horrible blogger, sorry!

Alright kids, I've got a date day at the park with my two boys. Off I go! Happy Saturday! xo

City Triangles dress via Ross

Charlotte Russe cardigan

Neon Satchel c/o LuLu*s

Forever 21 headband

Chevron necklace c/o Romwe

Cateye sunglasses c/o Romwe

Target flats

Strawberry Shortcake + Mint

I've been relishing in the slightly more Autumn-like days we've been having around town lately. I almost forgot what a comfortable day in Nashville felt like. August is notoriously hot and humid here normally but I'm trying to get in all of my Summer dresses before the cooler weather starts to settle in. Cotton candy/baby pink is my favorite color and this outfit isn't lacking any in that department. The pink hair is back... for now. Not sure if it'll be a daily thing or just a "for fun" doing. I've been feeling very lackluster in my "self esteem" department and I'm trying to squash the shyness before it takes over my life. Does that sound as weird to read as it does to type? I know it's silly, but crazy colored hair kind of pushes me to branch out a little... even if just dealing with stares and snickers haha 

So this dress... I've had this dress for a couple of years now (year and a half-ish?) I blogged about this dress in the yellow color back in April, but this is the first time the blue one has made it to the blog despite me wearing it almost constantly. It's such a classy and fun dress, though I think it takes on a slightly different look with pink hair and tattoos. I said it then and I'll say it again: I wish this dress came in every color of the rainbow. I'd own each one in multiples. Swoon.

The song I'm sharing today is my absolute favorite tune right now. I listened to my playlist (shared here) once through and then decided to listen to Robyn's Body Talk album. I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I listened to this song in a row. It was probably over 25. Please don't judge me. It's just so fun! I sat in traffic on the way up and I totally looked up the lyrics to the ~rapping part that I couldn't get. Now I've got it down! I'm totally on fire with it ;) Man, I sound so lame!

We've had so much fun in Indianapolis thus far! Bars, state fair, tattoos, thrifting, etc etc. Today we're thrifting more and heading to the zoo. Then hopefully meeting up with a friend or two from Indy! So glad we were able to come do this. Happy days!

Emma + Michele dress via Ross
Thrifted belt
Forever 21 headband
Urban Expressions purse
Target flats (these babies are way past their expiration)

PS: Sponsor spots are open for September! (That's so weird to type!) Hit me up before the 20th if you wanna snag 'em at a discount! Peep the sponsor page or email me!

Shades of Bee

So you saw the blonde hair! Now here's some little outtakes of the pink! I was gifted a pink replacement to my first one from the lovely Miss Jen! I can't wait to wear it out and about again. Oh how I've missed pink hair! The second is from EpicCosplay on Ebay! It's soft and fun and it's not too overpowering. 

Just wanted to share these little outtakes before we started our daily errands! You can buy the first two from Mildgreentea-1 on Ebay! xo

PS; While I know most of you don't mean anything rude by it, can we please just skip the "I like you better with/when..." comments. They're simply just not very nice, even when we try really hard to make them! If you like me with brown hair, I appreciate it, and I still have brown hair! But let's not rain on anyone's parade by saying things like "I like you better without cheek piercings" or "I like you better with brown hair. Just sayin!" because it isn't adding anything valuable to the discussion and could indadvertedly hurt someone's feelings! ;)

New Hair and New Tattoo!

New cotton candy curls and a fully finished sleeve! I promise better pictures of my arm once it's all healed up nice and pretty! I just had to throw in some Pip and Georgia, too! [I feel so much more like Kaelah with my curls back!] I'll be drawing the winner of the Miss Violet Lace giveaway tomorrow! xo

Fool-Proof Adventures in Pink Hair! (+ a Review!)

What if I told you...

I have pink hair?

♥♥♥♥♥♥

All that is missing is my curls.