November Wishlist

With the holidays coming up, wishlists are definitely more relevant to post. As always, there's always lots of great finds online. I've said it before, but I'm a huge fan of online shopping. I do most, if not, all of my holiday shopping online. I've already started and surprisingly my dad is the first person I have completely done. He's usually the hardest to buy for. I do a lot of my holiday shopping this weekend from Black Friday through Cyber Monday. There's so many good deals online, sometimes it gets overwhelming and it's always way too tempting to get yourself things. I've already succumb to this temptation...lol.

Anyway....here a few things that I've got my eye on this month:

1//2//3//4//5//6//7//8//9

I don't have any really great fitting blazers, except for my one black one. I'd love to have various colors to sort of dress up a more casual look, especially for work in the winter. This light grey one from ModCloth looks so comfy and has a really nice shape to it, and it comes in a ton of different colors. I think this shade is a good versatile one, though. I've also been wanting a good jumpsuit. It's SO hard to find one that fits right and doesn't hug you in all the weird places or go up your crotch or look too baggy. I found this navy one on SheInside, and it looks like it could fit really well, but you never know. It's tricky and risky to buy jumpsuits online, but this one is at a great price.

Lindybop is full of awesome dresses and there are so many that I love, but the couple that are included here (#3 and #9) are probably my top picks. The gold and black one is so classy and the other is so classic.

I love the mustard blouse from Ruche because it's great for layering. Layering blouses and shirts under my dresses is how I transition them throughout the colder seasons, so you can never have enough of them. I definitely don't. I only have a few good ones that are long-sleeved. I usually get them thrifted, so I'm going to have to go on a thrifting trip and try to stock up for this coming season!

My Guy

I wanted to take some time and write about Chris because he is so wonderful and so good to me, and he is one of the most important people in my life. He's the man behind the camera a lot of the time. He braves the cold and snow with me in the winter and the heat and mosquitos in the summer. I love taking pictures, but it's no surprise that it's easier when you have someone else helping with your outfit shots. It's also more fun to have some company and someone to explore with afterwards. It's something we both enjoy, and it's definitely a team effort that we work well together doing.







Chris has definitely gotten the hang of the kinds of shots I like to get (full body, waist up/portrait, detail shots) and he usually just goes through them. He jokes that helping me with my blog and going shopping with me has made him more perceptive of women's fashion...haha. A good majority of the time, I imagine what I want the shots to look like - which poses from which angles, certain details, etc. I always pick the locations and have an idea of which poses I want to do and where. And almost always, when I describe how I want a photo to look, Chris can do it. He also has ideas of things he wants me to do too once we're at the location. It's fun to do something creative together and we both get really excited when we had a good shoot.







I have to say... I do wish I had someone to shoot for. As much as I like to be in front of the camera, I also love being behind it and capturing moments. I wish I had a fellow blogger that was in my area that I could hang out with and do shoots with/for. I did this shoot of Chris after he did mine from my last post with the cat dress. I like getting good pictures of him, and I also love when we get some good ones of us that aren't all iPhone selfies and weird faces. We don't really have any photo-crazy friends, so we don't have people that capture us the way we capture everyone else and each other. Ashley is pretty good at getting pictures when we all hang out, though, which I love.







Chris is one of the most generous and caring people I know. He is always there to cheer me up or make me feel better when I had a crappy day. He rubs my feet and my back. He cooks me food (and he's really good at it, too!). He takes care of me when I don't feel good. He encourages me to be better and to push myself. He gets me to loosen up a little when I'm too wound up. Most importantly, he supports me and all the things that make me happy. He's supportive of my career, and he supports this blog because he knows it's important to me and it's something that I love. He is the first to "like" all my pictures on Facebook, and sometimes the only one to do so. It seems like a silly thing to care about, but I think it's a small (and easy) way of showing support to your friends and family and sometimes it's surprising how little people care, but he always does.





I think Chris and I have a good balance together. Our personalities balance each other out and are also pretty similar. We just have this amazing connection and understanding. We keep each other in check, and we also help each other grow. We are always learning from each other and growing together, and even though we've been together for over 4 years now, I still miss him at the end of the day when we go our separate ways. I still can't wait to see him when I'm out of work. I still get amazed by his endless generosity, patience, sweetness, and his easygoingness. I am so lucky to have this awesome guy in my life and I'm so happy that we conquered so much to get where we are today because I've never been happier.







So... a big thank you to my love for going on photo adventures with me and supporting me in all I do. Thank you for being you, and for always bringing out the best in me. I never expected it when you came into my life, but I'm so thankful that you did.

Feline

Let the complaining about the cold commence. My god, it has gotten so cold so suddenly. I've broken out my down winter coat and the fleece-lined tights. My favorite boots broke (my only waterproof ones), so I'm asking for a new pair for Christmas so that I'll have some for the majority of the winter. I love layering, but too much layering is just annoying. Shopping is one of the few things there is to do in the winter, and even that gets annoying when you have to keep taking off and putting on your pants, boots, shirt, sweater, scarf, and coat. The struggle is real.











These were taken right before the insta-winter started. It was still a little cold, but not TOO bad. I really enjoy this outfit. I love my cat dress, I love buffalo-checked things, and I love mixing patterns. I also love that my hair is still dark, though I can tell now that it has faded a lot. I kind of like it a little faded, though, because it actually looks dark brown and not black. I might dye it again in a few months, but I have to think about it. I think the dark hair would be interesting contrasted with bright and pastel spring colors.











The fall semester is almost over, and while it hasn't been nearly as stressful as the summer semester was, I'll still be glad to have an extended break. This is pretty much the only time that I get a long break from classes since I take them every semester - fall, spring, AND summer. I always get about a month off for Christmas, and it's glorious. After this, I'll have one more class and then I'll be done...FOREVER....again. I say this because I thought I was done forever when I graduated my undergrad, but now I'll REALLY be done forever. I like being a student, but sometimes it sucks.











When I'm done with school, I really want to get involved with theater again. I miss it a lot. I'd like to find a community theater group to be a part of. I really want to be in Rocky Horror, but that is more likely to happen next fall around Halloween time. There's nothing like being on stage and feeling the energy that comes from it, working with the actors and engaging the audience. I love to perform and I wish I had more chances to do it more. I would really love to get into burlesque, but there's nothing around here. There's a place that offers classes, which I think would be a lot of fun, but it's a pretty lengthy drive and it can get kinda pricey. Again, maybe next year I'll be able to do it, but then there will be school loan payments to worry about...











It's so hard for me to wait for Thanksgiving to finally be here. I'm way too excited about getting to stuff my face full of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and apple pie. I wish I could eat Thanksgiving dinner every day of my life. There's nothing like roasted poultry. Fried, breaded, grilled, baked...all of that is good for chicken and turkey, but nothing beats the amazingness that is a roasted chicken or turkey. I was in heaven when we went to Medieval Times...lol.

Dress: H&M//Shirt, Scarf & Belt: Forever 21//Tights: Simply Vera by Vera Wang//Shoes: Urban Outfitters//Lipstick: Flirt!

I'm going to be making a dessert for Thanksgiving, and I'm thinking it's going to be a pumpkin coffee cake. I've made it before, and it came out really good. It's pretty simple to make, too. I'm glad that pumpkin desserts are still in season pretty much up to Christmas. I'm not too into pumpkin pie because of the texture, though it's still pretty good. Apple pie is my all time favorite pie. I know it's kind of cliche and boring, but it's also a classic. You can't go wrong with it, and anything apple and cinnamon is amazing.

Plaid Love

I love plaid and flannel, and autumn is the perfect time for them. I had been wanting a plaid print dress, and when I saw this one on ModCloth a few weeks ago, I quickly decided to order it. I love the fit of it, though the shoulders are a tad tight. It's nothing unmanageable, though!









I love pieces that work well with neutrals. I have a lot of brown in my wardrobe because it's one of my favorite colors to wear, especially accessory-wise. I've had a brown purse for as long as I can remember, now. It's just so earthy and looks good with just about any color. I think black or white can be a little too much at times, and brown is a happy medium.











I was thinking about paleness earlier today. I have pretty fair/pale skin, and I actually really like it. I like how it works with make-up because it's usually really contrasty, which I like. I also like the contrast of the dark hair with my skin. I just like the look of fair skin. I'm not saying that other skin tones are ugly or unattractive. I'm just trying to say that I'm proud of my skin tone. I'm pale, and I'm proud!











There's no denying that Christmas is now fast approaching, especially when on November 1st, Christmas stuff and decorations were already in all the stores. I don't know what to get anyone, and it's freaking me out. I usually have a good idea of what I'm getting most people, especially Chris. This year, I don't have many ideas. I'm sure I'll come up with something. With the Internet it's just so overwhelming to find something because there's SO MUCH to look at and pick from. Chris is pretty easy to buy for, but I think I always want what I get to be special, personal, and something he will love. I think I have high standards for gift giving...lol.









I've also been searching everywhere for a green dress to wear for Christmas. The thing about green is that there are all kinds of different shades, and not all of them work for a Christmas dress. Lime green, olive/army green, mint green...none of these work. I'm looking for a more deep, foresty green, though I don't want it to look too teal. I have my eye on a couple, but nothing is really screaming out at me. Most of the time, I want to wear green and then I end up just wearing red because there's a much bigger selection of red dresses for Christmas. I wore red last year, so I'm really hoping to change it up this year.

Dress: ModCloth//Sweater: Take Out//Tights: Target//Shoes: Urban Outfitters//Belt: Forever 21//Lipstick: Too Faced Cosmetics

These pictures were taken in my neighborhood. There are a lot of trees around, so I got to see lots of pretty leaves and color throughout the season. I feel like we had more color this month than in October. The leaves have been dropping like crazy, though, now that it's getting colder and we keep getting rain. I get sad when the leaves fall, but I also like when there's a bunch of them blanketing the ground. It's definitely better than snow being there!