Foodie Post: Brownie Covered Oreos

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THIS AMAZINGNESS?

Recipe found on Picky Palate.

Things I Will Not be Wearing on New Year's Eve

About a month ago I purchased a few dressed from Victorias Secret as possible candidates for New Year's. From the reviews of VS I've done recently, it is now clear that their clothes just do not work for me. They either A. Don't fit, or B. Are poor quality. Well sadly I got hit with reason "A" this time around.

Here are the dresses I purchased which (or course) look great on the models:
 

VS Ruched Crewneck Sweater Dress
{here}



VS Banded Bottom Dress
{here}

Both options would have been really cute for New Year's but I had my heart set on the sweater dress because I loved the pattern. I purchased the snake print dress really for work and I liked the colorway.

Here are the pictures of me wearing them:

The length was good on this dress and could be adjusted a bit because of the ruching. The sleeves were a little long but the pattern helped hide the extra fabric. It's hard to tell in the photo but this dress is cut funny. The seams that go along the side actually twist to that the right one ends up in front right between the legs and the left one ends up in the same place in the back. It made the dress sort of rise up in the part making the dress a little risque. I also could FEEL that seam in the most unpleasant of ways on my back side. There was also tons of extra fabric around the torso as illustrated in the picture on the left. Overall it just wasn't flattering so I'll be returning it.

Here's the second dress:

 

As you can see, the actual color of this dress is WAY off of the pic online and I hated it. The fit was also bad. The top portion was cut a little large with no real definition in the bust area so the girls got a little lost and the length hit me at an unflattering spot. This one will be going back as well.

Since these were a bust and I'm a procrastinator, it is now Thursday and I still don't know what I'm wearing...guess you'll find out!

Booty Time

I love 'weather' boots. Protecting you from the elements? Check! Looking super stylish? Check!
Living in Florida we get a lot of rain in the summer so a good pair of rain boots is a definite must. A few year's ago I received these for Christmas and they are seriously the best thing in the whole world:


Burberry Knit Cuff Rain Boot.
Side note: I'm not at home right now where I can take a pic of my actual ones so I had to do a little Internet searching. This proved very difficult. That is all.

 They are extremely comfortable and I've worn them with shorts, skinny jeans, regular jeans crammed in there, even pjs. If I even think it looks like it's going to sprinkle, I bring these with me, and TRUST, they have saved me many times. I also received an umbrella to match and yes, I look quite adorable when it rains.

Rain is undoubtedly not a surprise to you, but did you know it gets cold here too? Of course I'm not talking about -6 or anything but it does get in the low 30's. In fact, yesterday I had to scrape ice off my car and my boss told me this morning that Gainesville (several hours North of me) was colder than New York this morning. Crazy. My BF also plays rec hockey and believe me they keep that rink freezing! My feet get cold pretty easy so about a year ago I splurged on myself and bought these off Gilt:


Muks half muk with tartan trim in olive

 I cannot possible explain the joy these bring me. They are beyond comfortable (the entire inside is some kind of synthetic fur) and the outside is rabbit (animal lovers look away) and it is so soft. I don't even wear socks with these; they keep my feet that warm. You can see from the pic that the bottom has quite a thick rubber wrap around sole that protects the suede from unnecessary moisture when you walk outside.

While these have kept me beyond covered in Florida, I realized I had a problem. My family has a little ski trip planned in January and I don't have any snow boots! I can't risk the muks getting grimy from snow and salt on the roads so I've been on the hunt.

Can I just say that there are a lot of freaking ugly snow boots out there? Seriously. Bad. Side note: I actually did have a pair of snow boots (somewhere in storage back in TX) that I could technically use but they look like this:

Ok these actually look better than the ones I have. Mine are shorter. I didn't buy these, my dad did so that should explain why they look like timberlands...so not attractive.

It seems like all the "good" ones are expensivee, holy cow! I've been looking and looking for weeks and the only ones I found that I liked (loved actually...) are these:

Sorel Joan of Arctic Snow boots

These are so cute I can't stand it. I love that they are taller which means I can tuck my skinnies in them and the fur on top is so cute! They retail for $130 which is why I hadn't purchased them yet. It was a little more than I wanted to spend. I happened to jump on over to Endless this morning and noticed these were included in the 25% off promo they've been having for a few weeks now. Why hadn't I noticed this before? I did a quick search online and not one other single retailer was offering any discount or sale of these so I decided to nab them. They only come in whole sizes and the retailer said to order down if you were in between so I snagged the black ones in a 5 (one of two sizes left in this color). Plus I took advantage of Ebates and Endless always has free 2-day shipping so my total came to about $95! Still a little pricey but boots I'll hardly get to wear but I hear Sorel has great quality so these will last me pretty much forever. Not bad for $95!

As far as boots go, it would appear I'm locked and loaded for whatever mother earth throws my way!

Alpha-Niner

When I was in high school and college, I used to have tons of Ninewest shoes. They were relatively cheap (given my school-days budget) and cute. About two years ago, my foot shrunk a half size bringing me to a size 5. Although I don't shop at Ninewest that much anymore, I do occasionally pop in to the outlet location we have just to browse. While they still have a relatively cute selection, 9 times out of 10 I can't fit into their size 5's; they're too big. Despite this statistic, I'm a dreamer, and when I randomly popped on their site this evening looking for flat boots, instead I found these two gorgeous shoes from their Boutique 9 line.

Boutique 9 Caurah Shoes - $190
{here}

Boutique 9 Derry Shoes - $160
{here}

I don't have any experience with this line but the price points seem pretty steep given the brand. I've always thought Ninewest was a little over priced for what it was but with most shoes in the 9 line hitting close to $200 I have to wonder if this increase is due to quality or typical (in my opinion) over pricing.

Any of you lovely ladies have experience with Boutique 9?

Super Man

Ok this is not a post about me wearing blue tights with a red cape, although I would probably rock that. Yea, I said it. There is a cape in this little story. Namely, this one:

Talbots Gray Plaid Kimono (no longer available online)

When I first saw this kimono (come on peeps, this is totally a cape, but whatever), I died. Really. Right there on the floor I dropped like a fly.

That blown out gray plaid had me at hello. Seriously Gorgeous. But at $200, kinda high for Florida. You know the drill...waited, waited, went out of stock. Go figure. Then it magically reappeared on sale for $100 and I thought, yea, that is SO happening.

When I received it, right away I was worried. It looked ginormous. Literally like a giant could wear it. When I put it on, my suspicions were sadly confirmed. See?

I even busted out the leather driving gloves for some styling goodness a'la the Talbots pic,
but even they couldn't save this fit disaster.

I tried readers, I really did, but no matter how I looked at it, I was just swimming. I really wanted to love this, but alas, tiny-ness strikes again.

Happy Monday Lovelies!

OTK Strikeout

As you might have already guessed, my OTK experience was sadly, not a positive one. You can see the exact boots I purchased in this post.

I've actually had these boots for a few weeks but the saga with taking my own pictures with my crappy camera finally overwhelmed me to the point of a temporary timeout. That is until I swung by Tarjey and picked myself up a handy 66" tripod. Let me tell you. Greatest invention ever.

Moving on, here are the pics. As a disclaimer, I actually took several pics of different items so there's not a whole lot of 'styling' going on here. For these pics, I only wore this wash of denim so you could see the boots, otherwise, they kinda disappeared.

Diba's on left, Guess on right.

Thoughts:

Both of these boots totally missed the mark. The Diba's had quite a bit of 'leather' on the shaft which added ablot of mass to my legs. Although I thought I'd like the looser fit of the split back, they ended up coming off as quite hookerish. The Guess ones were better but the shaft was pretty tight and it was very difficult to get my pants to actually stay down as I pulled them up my leg. Not only that, but coupled with pants, they were too tight for my legs and caused the slighted amount of 'bulging'. Ummm so not the look I was going for. Bare legged they fit great but come on, I'm not going to pull that look anytime soon unless something happens to my day job...

I think I've gotten rid of the OTK boot itch...which is probably a good thing since it's like 100 degrees here 90% of the year....

Happy Holidays!

Lip Service

While trolling the blog world yesterday, I stumbled (why do I always say this? Like I'm electronically clumsy??? Anywho...) upon this:

{here}

Are you kidding me with this cuteness?

I have been on the hunt for a cute container to put my makeup brushes in and I think this fits the bill perfectly.

Merry Christmas to me.

Pantone Color of the Year

As many of you probably already know, Pantone recently annouced their 2011 color of the year to be honeysuckle. When I read this, I'm not going to lie, I did not know what this color actually was. I had visions of my youth spent perched alongside the fence in our front yard, pulling the delicate strands from dozens of honeysuckle flowers to get to the tiny, sweet droplet of nectar inside. From this happy memory, I thought perhaps the color was cream, as that is the color of a honeysuckle. Cream? Really Pantone? Thankfully, I was very wrong! Honeysuckle is apparently a very lovely shade of pink. Like fuchsia but brighter perhaps?

All that to say, I was reading Design Darling the other day and she posted this image from Patterson Maker:

SWOON!

What a pretty combo: bright pink and leopard! The dress is pretty basic but I was loving that purse! After about 90 pages of back reading on Patterson Maker's tumblr, I had no luck in locating this picture and thus ended the search for the clutch. I love leopard as much as the next girl, but it has to be a specific kind of leopard. It can't be too realistic, more of a playful illustration, as perfectly captured by the clutch above.

Since I can't source the pieces from above, I put together a collection of options:

Day Dresses by LA Made
Clutches by Asos

I'll take the bow-shoulder dress and leopard and black clutch stat!

Happy Monday!

Fifi Fantastique!

I just discovered the blog Fifi Lapin. If you don't know what this is you are so in for a random treat. Fifi Lapin is a fashion blog run by...a bunny. Ok, probably not, BUT it is seriously the most strange/cute thing ever. From what I can tell, the blog chronicles fashion as worn by a little rabbit named Fifi Lapin who is quite the fashionable fuzzy lady! I hopped on over there (no pun intended but that's just funny) and she has 12 days of Christmas series going where it shows a runway picture and then an illustration of a bunny dressed in the outfit. Genius I tell you!

Sounding a little weird?

You'll understand once I introduce to you Miss Fifi Lapin:

See????

I was not joking about the cuteness!

In addition to her blog, which has all sorts of Fashion Powerhouses giving rave reviews, there is also a little shop where you can buy prints and such of the illustrations.

I feel a special attraction to this little character as my three sisters and I have a pet name for each other: bunny. As in, "why don't you move back to Texas, Cari Bunny?"

I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to buy this print and frame it ASAP.

OTK on the Way!

Like many of you fashion-savvy ladies, I have really loved the OTK boot that's come back this season. To spin off what the lovely Jen of Made by Girl recently said, these are not just Pretty Woman boots anymore! Admittedly OTKs can look a little, well trashy, but paired with some classics like dark skinny jeans and a neutral palate, they can look really sophisticated. I've seen several posts of great examples of this concept, most recently by Made by Girl. Here are a few pictures she included in her post:

All of these OTKs have something in common. These boots are not just over the knee, they are thigh highs. This is very important to me. As you know, I have stubby legs and anything that hits me right at the knee makes me look very squaty. There are many OTKs that are actually only knee high and for those who can pull them off, lucky you!

Made by Girl purchased these Charles David OTKs which I am super jealous of:

Love!
{here}

While not the most expensive boots, I didn't want to spend that much since I live in Florida and boot weather is pretty scarce. Enter in these two options:

Guess Parks OTK Boots | Diba Will Oh OTK Boots
{here} and {here}

I purchased both of these boots (Guess ones were on special for $70 (50% off!!!) and Diba's were $79) to give myself a few options. I'm torn between liking the two variations of shaft: slim fitting with some slouch capabilities or a little looser fit at the top with a split at the back.

Fingers crossed that one of these will be a winner!

Petite Fashion Challenge #4

Curls and Pearls is the host of the fourth Petite Fashion Challenge which seems to be growing quite popular among the petite community. I haven't been able to participate in the previous challenges but I've seen some great entries. I've so glad to be able to try my hand at this challenge!

Here's the official challenge from the adorable Curls and Pearls:

The challenge:
Create a holiday party look using festive colours and/or holiday pieces without looking like a greeting card. This could be your opportunity to dust off that reindeer sweater you might have collecting dust in the back of your closet and turn it into something chic...hmmm?

My 'going out' outfit of choice usually involves some sort of black (original I know) and since I'm all about working with what you got, I searched for a little holiday inspiration to use what I already had laying around and I stumbled upon this:

As a side note, I think I might need to find myself a black Christmas tree! I loved the gorgeous combo of gold and black. It lends such a luxe feel to this tree. And then, an outfit was born:

Top: Black sweater from Express, Size XS
Shorts: Black leatherette shorts from Forever21, Size S
Tights: House of Holland suspender tights from ASOS, one size
Shoes: Black pumps from Ann Taylor, Size 5
Jewelry: Black and gold bracelet and necklace from Banana Outlet, Spike rink from nOir
Nail Polish: Black polish by Mabelline, gold glitter top coat by Sephora's OPI

You can click on the pics to enlarge.
A few more shots:

Happy Holidays!

Victorias Secret Review

A few weeks ago I purchased several things from VS online and am just now getting to the review. As a disclaimer, I took these photos kind of on the fly so my head is cut off because, well I'll just say it, I was looking less than stunning. Also, I was kinda tired and didn't want to hunt down all the links to these items but I believe they are all in stock and can be found on the VS website.

First up we have this shirt:

Pros:

• On Sale
• Pretty Color

Cons:

• Cheap looking since the material was really thin
• The stitching on the bust was so not helping the girls
• The V neck was a little too low to not be self conscious.

Verdict: Return

Next we have this top which I thought was gorgeous:



Yea I know this is wrinkled as hell and I'm also not wearing the best bra. I said these pics were on the fly, geez...



Again, wrinkled but the bow detail on the back was really pretty on the model.

Pros:

• LOVED the powder pink
• The bow on the back was so sweet

Cons:

• AGAIN with the cheap fabric. This was so thin that I thought if I washed it, it would develop those little tiny holes in 2.5 seconds.

Verdict: Return

I also obsessed over this tunic for a few months before buying it:

Pros:

• LOVED the pattern. It was just so pretty!
• I liked the little lace/fishnet panel on the front. It's a little hard to see when I'm wearing it so I included a picture of it laying flat.

Cons:

• I'm beginning to think that VS uses the cheapest fabric possible to make their cloths. In the pictures this tunic looked like a nice jersey. But in reality it was a shear polyester or some garbage.
• The arm holes were way too low.
• There wasn't enough fabric on the top to make this look proportional. I think I ended up looking like a big cone, ie, not cute.
• The way the fabric was gathered on the butt was just not flattering.

Verdict: Shock? Return

After all these disasters, I did like the swimmies I got:

 I actually had purchased the bottoms on the right a while back but couldn't find a top I liked enough to go with it because the one also pictured above was sold out. It came back in stock and I snatched it up!