May Showers

I love stormy days. LOVE THEM. Maybe it’s because rain is scarce here in Texas, and when we do have thunderstorms, they tend to be in the middle of the night when you can’t really enjoy them so much… especially when your 55 lb pitbulls attempt to directly adhere themselves to your sleeping body, as if actually being on top of Mommy will protect them from the thunder.

(Ok, what am I saying here? I love that. Thunderstorm cuddles are the best.)

Point is, this week we’ve had some really excellent stormy days and nights, though they always leave me yearning for more. I think I’d be right at home in a place like Seattle. Rain, to me, always feels like release.

Plus I get to wear my red wellies. Winning all around.

Dress and clutch: c/o Kiki La’Rue, rainboots: Hunter (red here, more colors here), Necklace: Sora Designs, Bracelet: Madewell

I know. I am clear. (the stage that comes right after white.)  Also, that adorable dress I’m wearing above came courtesy of a new online shop called Kiki La’Rue, which is definitely worth checking out!  They have a great variety of adorable and affordable dress options (like this one and this one and this one!), as well as super cute tops and handbags.  I love to support smaller shops that are dedicated to quality and customer service, as this one clearly is. This dress is comfy and looks super cute paired with bright pops of color in a necklace or, in this case, red rain boots. :)

Be sure and check out Kiki La’Rue before spending more money on the same products at a department store!

Have a great Thursday…

Playing Dress up

If you recall, last week I attended a little event for Radiant Cosmetics, a fabulous local company dedicated to ending the fight against human trafficking. Well, this week I decided to play dress up with some of my new Radiant products!  I felt sort of like a little girl who’d gotten into her mother’s makeup… it was fun. I’m not used to seeing myself in bold pink lipstick (or bold red gloss, for that matter), but I was actually feeling it. I think these two lipcolors might be my new favorites!  The pink was creamy and wonderful, and the red gloss (called “Rue,” which makes me think of Hunger Games,) smells good enough to eat. I also tried out a pretty mauve-ish eye shadow and a peachy blush… winners, all around!  Here are a few photos of all the shenanigans, with links to the products I used below.

1 (rue) | 2 (utopia) | 3 (not quite terracotta) | 4 (peony)

Happy Wednesday!

My Canon has style.

How incredibly cute is this camera strap?!  Sort of makes me happy just looking at it.  I’m the proud new owner of a Gussy Sews “eclectic whatnot,” and I just wanted to spread the love. Gussy is a really inspiring small business owner with a great blog and lots and lots of cute handmade goodness in her shop, so check it out if you’re interested! 

I’ve been falling more and more in love with this photography thing, and I know it because all the “work” part of it doesn’t feel like work.  I’m learning Lightroom and CS5 right now, and it. is. so. fun. 

Of course, cute lil’ camera straps don’t hurt either (they’re 10% off til May 4th with the coupon code STORYOFMYLIFE).  I really adore this yellow one too…  

Have a great evening!

An outfit and some words

 
Shirt: Forever21 (recent, but not online), Pants: J.Crew, Boots: Franco Sarto (similar here), Bag: Theit, Necklace: Sora Designs: Bracelet: Madewell. Earrings: c/o Acute Designs

I’m not feeling particularly loquacious today.

Really, I just wanted to say loquacious.  It’s a good word.

But no, seriously, I don’t have much to say on this fine Thursday.  If you must know, I desperately need to go grocery shopping (all that’s left in the house is bread, cheese, crackers, and frozen veggies) and I’m also determined to finish that damn gallery wall we started in our bedroom.  Finishing projects is not my strong suit. 

Also, my mom and I go pick up Edd’s ashes at 1:00 PM today. I can’t even wrap my mind around that, and the fact that I just said what I did so flippantly.  It seems wrong. But it’s the truth…

And you thought this was going to be a light-hearted outfit post?

Life feels sad right now.  Showers and long car rides are the worst.  My counselor got an earful yesterday.  He said I should write about this more.  And maybe I will.  But for now, pictures of how I dress myself will have to do.

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Side note: can we talk about those cute Chevron earrings in the pictures above?  They’re from the amazing (and incredibly kind and patient) Gina of Acute Designs.  She has both a fabulous blog AND shop! Everything is so affordable and pretty over there.  Here’s a few more of my favorites…

1, 2, 3, 4

By the lake

Do not confuse this bun with the “blogger topknot.” This is what I call the “it’s-humid-and-I’m-lazy-messy-Jenni-bun.”

{ Shirt and shoes: J.Crew, pants: Madewell (on sale!), necklace: Sora Designs, Bracelet: c/o LeeLaLa—25% off discount with code LOVEJENNI }

I reconnected with an old friend recently… we hadn’t seen each other in about 11 years, and when we finally met back up (thanks to Facebook and the wonderful world of blogging), you'd of thought that not even a month had passed.  I love that about technology, don’t you?  How it brings people together. What in the WORLD did people do before the Internet?! It boggles me, truly.

Anyway, thanks again to Brittany for taking my outfit pictures yesterday! She’s just starting up her own life and style blog, and I feel a very symbiotic relationship coming on… one which could eliminate the need for husband-photographers altogether, ya feel me?  ;)

Also, I’d like to point out that pretty little custom bracelet in the photos above! It was handmade by my dear friend Lindsay over at Lee La La—she runs a shop full of fab wrap bracelets, which you should probably check out.  This was my favorite color combo, but there are lots of other good ones too. (especially this one… I die!) 

The good news is that Lindsay is offering up SOML readers a 25% discount to the shop using the code LOVEJENNI (yessss), so take advantage of it!  And have a great Tuesday!

Spring style

It has been downright spring-like here in Texas.  Guess what the high is today?  88.  Isn’t it supposed to be winter?!  Just a thought. 

Well anyway, the weather has been ideal for taking outdoor pictures, and yesterday I had Matthew snap some of my outfit.  I think even he felt the power of the Mark II in his hands.  He is usually rather grumbly while taking pictures, but this time he seemed to be getting a little carried away by the super-fast shutter speed.  I have a lot of sexy mid-blink, drunken-looking shots to show for it.  Seriously, I could fill an entire blog with only awkward outtakes from outfit posts.  It’d be awesome.

Anyway, this outfit is simple and sweet… just how I like it.  I am all about the awesome bright shorts out at J.Crew right now, and this green color was my favorite.  Also, pay close attention to the necklace I’m wearing!  I’ll tell you where to find it below.

  

{ Shirt, shorts, and flats: J.Crew, bracelets: F21, necklace: c/o Vintage Wanna Bee }

So let’s talk about that necklace for a moment, shall we?  Can we all just take a moment and admire the adorableness?  Nichelle from Vintage Wanna Bee sent it over for me, and I am mildly obsessed with it now.  Definitely the perfect little pop of color to spice up an outfit (and there are many other colors to choose from—I’ll certainly be going back for more). AND it’s handmade AND it’s affordable.  Win win win.  Check out the mustardy/gold color here or browse the rest of the shop here!  Girlfriend has some seriously sweet stuff. 

Have a happy Thursday!

Let’s talk hair.

Let’s face it. One of the perks of being a blogger is getting to try out awesome products so I can report back to you all about them! Today I’d like to tell you a bit about a super sweet hairdryer from the wonderful people over at Missiko.  It’s like maybe they saw my pictures and knew my hair needed some serious help… and they’d be right.  I’ve been using the same cheap Revlon hair dryer for probably about 5 years now, and sometimes it sparks inside and smells like it might actually burst into flames.  Fire hazard, anyone?  No to mention it doesn’t dry my hair very well.  Which I didn’t know then, but I know now.

After receiving my Hana dryer in the mail, I did a little experiment.  I set a stop watch on my phone and timed both the drying and the flat ironing afterwards, which is how I usually style my hair, and with my new Hana dryer, it took 7.5 minutes to dry and 17 to flat iron, to total 24.5 minutes. (and I have A LOT of hair.)

A few days later, I dried my hair with the old Revlon and then flat ironed it, and the drying took a whopping 13 minutes, flat ironing 20 minutes—to total 33 minutes.  So basically, the Hana dryer just shaved 8 1/2 minutes off my styling routine. For someone who is ALWAYS running late (as we discussed), this is sort of life altering.

What I found interesting was that it not only shaved time off the drying, but also off the flat ironing.  It’s hard to explain, but I was sort of in awe of the incredibly what I’d call “soft” but powerful airstream coming out of that puppy.  It doesn’t even get as scalding hot as my old dryer, but it dries the hair more quickly and the end result is so much softer and less frizzy than how my hair would look after using the ol’ Revlon.  I was pretty dang impressed, you guys. 

Ok, and ONE LAST THING.  Missiko doesn’t just send you the hairdryer when you purchase.  You get this huge box of all kinds of amazing goodies. I was literally shocked, and even emailed them to ask if it was a promotional deal or if everyone gets such an amazing VIP package.  Sure enough, everyone who orders this dryer gets the same box, stuffed with Paul Mitchell shampoo and conditioner, Hana shine serum, a straightening comb, an eyelash curler, two hand sanitizers, bath petals, a handful of nail files, and a freakin’ teddy bear, y’all.  Talk about bang for your buck!

So check out their hair dryers (I have this one) or professional hair straighteners if you’d like, and know that they definitely come with a shining recommendation from your ol’ pal Jenni. :) 

  

We’re late, we’re late! For a very important date!

A consistent bone of contention between my husband and myself is my strong tendency towards lateness and procrastination.  Call it a character flaw, if you will.  I have little to no concept of time, and it drives Matthew completely crazy.  I think it started when I stopped working a “real” job and going to school—I work well under structure and a little bit of pressure, so now, without that, I am sort of just a feather in the wind.  One of my major New Year’s goals is to get this under control, because I don’t love it about myself either.  (by the way, I’m NEVER late to really important things, I’m just talking about every day stuff. And sadly, if we’re good enough friends or family members, you have probably experienced my lateness quite frequently—if I don’t think there’s any risk of being fired, broken up with, or excommunicated, tardiness become less of an issue in my mind.)

In an effort to help create a little of that structure and “pressure” I seem to need in order to stay on task and schedule, my husband decided to enact a new little rule, which decrees that if I’m not ready by the time he says we’re leaving, he leaves without me.  Though it sort of makes me furious at him, it’s working.

But that doesn’t exactly help me stay on task during the day, and the other morning, when it was 10 AM and I was still unshowered and sitting on my computer in my PJs, Matthew came up with a solution.  “You know what I think would work really well for you?”  he said.

“What’s that?”

“Electroshock therapy.”

Dun dun DUN.  Is it really that bad?  Well, please don’t think less of me, you guys.  I have big plans for the coming year, and my lack of a schedule is the first thing that needs to go before I can achieve my goals.  AND, I now have the perfect little reminder of the passing time and my need to get a handle on it… this lovely little pocketwatch necklace from a company I’m sure you’ve heard of—Shabby Apple!  I’ve been wanting one of these puppies for quite awhile now, and this little token has come at the perfect time.  It’s lovely and I have dubbed it a symbol of my goals going forward.  :)

{ Shirt and belt: J.Crew (last season), Necklace: c/o Shabby Apple }

Do any of you suffer from this same affliction?  Have you found any tricks to keep it under control?  I know most of you work and/or have a family so wasting time may not be an option, but if you work from home or otherwise have a similar problem to mine, I’d love to hear ways you’ve found to fix it! :)

What I’ll be wearing New Year’s Eve + Poshlocket Giveaway!

 

  

{ Dress: ASOS (find it here), Necklace c/o Poshlocket, Shoes: Enzo Angiolini from Nordstrom }

Remember this dress you guys?! (and don’t feel sorry for me—it wasn’t even cold when we took these pics!) It didn’t make it here in time for my birthday, so I’ve designated it my official New Year’s Eve dress and already let Matthew know he better take me someplace nice where I can wear it.  I don’t know what your thoughts are on the cutout sides, but I’ve been seeing these on a lot of dresses lately and I think they are damnright sexy without being scandalous or revealing too much.  And also, your boyfriend or husband will be very intrigued by them.  Just thought I’d throw that out there.  ;)

And do you see that super chunky and sparkly necklace?  That baby was a gift from Poshlocket, an online jewelry store with seriously incredible prices and awesome stuff.  This necklace is really high quality and now my current favorite item of jewelry I own!  I will absolutely be shopping with Poshlocket in the future.

Aaaand these nice people are giving away a $30 shop credit to one of YOU!  That will buy you almost anything in the store, you guys!  And they ship for free—how awesome is that?

To Enter:

For your mandatory entry you must do one of the following three things AND comment with your favorite piece from the store (leave only ONE comment representing both please, and include your email address if it isn’t on your profile!):

+ Like Poshlocket on Facebook
+ Follow Poshlocket on Twitter
OR
+ Get on the mailing list for extra promotions

For extra entries do any of the other items you didn’t do for your first entry (follow on Twitter, get on mailing list, etc) and leave a comment for each additional.  One extra entry for liking Story of My Life on Facebook! :)

Winner will be announced next week—good luck you guys!

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And the winner of the Etta Grace giveaway last week is…

 

Congrats girl!  I’ll be in touch! :)

A rare occasion on which I wore a dress and heels and pearls.

    { Dress: Nordstrom Rack, Coat and necklace: J.Crew, Scarf: c/o Pretty Colourful Vintage, Heels (shown in a post earlier today): Jessica Simpson }

Hey pretty people.  It’s not often I get the chance to get dressed up, so I felt this deserved it’s own post.  Plus, see that awesome vintage scarf?  It’s from my friend Virginie and her awesome shop, so I wanted to point out that she’s having a holiday sale over there.  So many unique and wonderfully inexpensive little color pops going on up in herrr.   You should check ‘em out. (I had a difficult time choosing this scarf because there are several other super cute ones too!)

Also.  Can you believe that dress was only 20 bucks at Nordstrom Rack?  Neither can I!  LOVE that place.

By the way, yes, it is winter.  And yes, I was cold.  And no, I wasn’t even wearing tights, probably because I don’t own any.  Which is why I’m no fashion blogger.  My closet is missing many vital pieces, but what’reyougonnado.  Until I can train myself to avoid J.Crew (which will never happen), I’ll probably never have enough accessory type things.  Ah, well.

See you tomorrow! :)