it was good while it lasted

My four month sabbatical/extended summer vacation is over.

Tomorrow I start my first day of graduate school. Wish me luck!

Typical of a kid on their first day of class, I'm thinking about what I should wear for the big day. I'm envisioning something like this in my head. Let's see if I can make it happen with what's already in my closet. Stay tuned to see what I come up with :)

writings on the wall

I wore this to dinner at Barmarche in Nolita...

where I dined on truffle shrimp risotto (mine)

and chipotle shrimp taquitos (the b/f's).

Later that night I ended up at a club in the Hotel Rivington. I was partied out by this time and my feet were killing me, so I won't pass my opinion on the scene because it is sure to be biased :)

Random question for those of you with Facebook pages for your blog...do you find that it helps generate traffic to your site, or are there any other benefits? I'm contemplating getting one...

wearing: mossimo tank, fcuk skirt, thrifted clutch, christian louboutin booties

picture perfect

So, if you haven't figured it out yet, I am way behind on posting.

I still have a few more New York posts to get through, but I have been back from NY and living in Cali for 3 weeks now! With that said, on to the post...

This was my first trip to New York that I was actually a tourist. Before boarding a cruise around the Hudson River, a lady snapped a perfect picture of me and the b/f, and I loved it so much I had to buy it :)

I saw so many landmarks up close and personal on the cruise, including the Statue of Liberty!

After the cruise we walked 1/2 way across the Brooklyn Bridge and later that night we had a yummy dinner and I somehow ended up at a club (yikes!). Those pictures up next...

wearing: target top, thrifted belt, urban skirt, anne klein sandals, badgley mischka bag

breakfast in new york

I don't know that I've ever been out to breakfast. I go out for brunch all the time, but breakfast and brunch are two totally different things to me. My first breakfast out was at Le Pain Quotidien and I kid you not when I say I had the best waffle I have ever had in my life.

Breakfast was followed by a full day: wedding band shopping, diamond district perusing, lunch in Bryant Park...

and a FREE (my fav word) event sponsored by Heineken, hence the tall glass of beer in my hand.

After a power nap I hopped in the cab with the b/f to dinner at Tio Pepe's, and lounging at the rooftop of Ink48 Hotel (AMAZING).

Once again, I threw on some heels to take look from day to night. This is essential when you don't want to spend $50 to check your bags :)

P.S.-I love pockets, and floral prints, and rompers... especially ones that look vintage.

wearing: ropmer from tj maxx, elliott luca bag, steve madden heels

solo in soho

This is what I wore (with my madden girl sandals) to window shop in Soho while the b/f and all my friends were at work my first full day in NY.

I mainly went to check out Topshop, where I left this awesome lacy sweater behind and opted for tapered pants instead. Can't wait to show them off!

Later that night I slipped into Louboutins for dinner with the girls.

We went to ELIZABETH in Nolita where I had a delicious lamb burger with feta cheese and garlic fries...yum :)

Post dinner the b/f and I headed to the rooftop at 60 THOMPSON HOTEL. I think I heard Rachel Zoe mention this hotel on her last show. Anyway, it was quite swank and empty. (image from aol travel)

Apparently you have to have a membership to get up there?? However, the doorman reluctantly let us up...probably because the b/f still had on his suit from work. Little did he know he had just let up two broke grad school students. Ha! Is that the Empire State Building way in the background?

Bonus picture of the shorts worn to my last dinner in ATL :(

wearing: mossimo blouse, urban shorts (early bday gift from mom), thrifted clutch, christian louboutin booties

it's my birthday!

Yep, today is my birthday, and to celebrate the occasion, I wore my J Crew bow top.

Had an amazing seafood dinner (succulent jumbo prawns on a bed of garlic butter noodles) at one of my all time favorite restaurants, Crustaceans/Thanh Long.

Then did it elementary style with a pizza/ice cream/cake party...(my dad thought it was his special day and got to the pizza before me, and my camera!)

And topped it off with some yummy sangria made by yours truly.

You can't go wrong with family, friends and food :)

wearing: j crew top, urban pants, matiko wedges, f21 wallet, michael kors watch

worn to: my pizza party (at home) & nordstrom rack to pick up my bday gift to myself

NEW YORK PICTURES & TRIP DETAILS UP NEXT!

confidence is key

I got back from New York last night, and I am making the semi permanent move to California tomorrow. Between traveling and packing I've been pretty busy, but I promise to catch up on everyone's blog ASAP.

I'll also be posting pictures from the NY trip very soon, but I wanted to post these pictures first because my pink eye is practically gone and two good things came from it...1) I got to wear these cute faux reading glasses 2) I realized that I don't need eye makeup to look good ;) That's not to say that I didn't miss my mascara immensely, but it felt nice to leave the house without it and still feel good about myself.

Lately I've been noticing how hard so many women are on themselves. They look back at photos and they are constantly pointing out something wrong with their hair or legs or arms etc. While I am not the poster child for confidence, I feel pretty darn good about myself. I took my pink eye all around Atlanta AND New York with little to no makeup and didn't think twice about it...and I honestly think people didn't notice my eye because of the way I carried myself.BTW isn't this red Elliott Luca bag fabulous? I rediscovered it during all my packing.

Anyway, I guess I just say all this to say that we as women need to relax. None of us are perfect and never will be, but we are all beautiful and we need to own it. You'd be amazed at what a little moxie can do for you ;)

wearing:blouse from local boutique, urban glasses, f21 skirt & necklace, elliott luca bag

worn to: dinner at legal seafood with the fam for my mom's bday

"With confidence, you have won before you have started." Marcus Garvey