red lips & red bottoms + a giveaway

Those of you who follow me on TWITTER know how excited I was about my Ruby Woo MAC purchase.

I've never worn anything other than a sheer gloss on my lips, yet something moved me to purchase a red LIPSTICK, and now I can't get enough of it.

It was the perfect accessory for this classic black and white combo.

And the perfect compliment to my red bottoms which you've seen a million times by now HERE, HERE & HERE.

How gorgeous is that sunset??? Anyway, on to the...

~GIVEAWAY~

While I was on my vacation I reached 300 followers, and what better way to celebrate than with a giveaway? Coincidentally, while I was away, the team over at SHABBY APPLE approached me about a giveaway. They have tons of great women's dresses, but I couldn't resist when I saw FRANCINE, this black bow skirt.

It reminds me of my skirt in this post, that is no longer available in stores, but FRANCINE could be yours if you simply follow me via Google Friend Connect. For additional entries you can:

*follow me on TWITTER AND tweet this giveaway

*like me on FACEBOOK

*follow me on BLOGLOVIN

Please comment in this post with your email address as well as all the ways you've entered!

And as an added bonus use the code simplychic10off to take 10% off any SHABBY APPLE purchase. Please enter by July 1st :)

neon + neutral

Taking a break from my trip pics to participate in the

BLOGGERS DO IT BETTER

challenge.

I saw so many young ladies looking so cute in their neon+neutral, and it never crossed my mind to join in.

That is until I was rummaging through my closet looking for something to wear to my friend's baby shower and rediscovered this skirt.

It hasn't seen the light of day since a trip to Boston over a year ago, seen HERE.

I can't decide if I like it better with the neutral or the peach, but I definitely prefer it with the heels :)

wearing: thrifted necklace, zara blouse, skirt from tj maxx, carlos santana heels

worn to: baby shower & father's day dinner

gone with the wind

I found it incredibly hard to get decent, let alone good blog pictures, while on the cruise ship.

The wind was a BEAST, plus I was always struggling to get shots in while the sun was still out.

But at least the sunset did make for a good backdrop in a few pictures. Plus this is just more incentive to schedule my photography class :)

wearing: nordstrom earrings, chicshop ring, gap chambray shirt, thrifted skirt, jessica simpson wedges, badgley mischka bag

*ETA: happily submitting this look for BDIB: MAXI SKIRT*

back to life

...back to reality. Last night I got home from a whirlwind of a 3 week vacation. Where did I go you ask? Boston, Cape Cod, Miami, Cayman Islands, Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, New Jersey, New York (with layovers in Atlanta, DC, & Los Angeles). I'm completely exhausted and jet legged so I will let the pictures (mostly) speak for themselves, but not before I say I had such an amazing time that I'm waiting to wake up one day and realize it was all a dream :)

Me and my cruise ship, Carnival Valor, on the Cayman Islands!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

In Honduras at Tabyana (private) Beach.

My favorite place on a beach is under a palm tree (Passion Island in Cozumel).

And when I wasn't beaching, I was eating, & eating & eating, literally!

In Belize fanning myself with a palm tree after a long, hot, fun horseback ride!

Thanks in advance for sticking with me while I was on my vacation/blogger break. I look forward to regularly scheduled postings and catching up on all your lovely blogs :)

red into pink

I have about 5 million things to do today, including taking the red eye to Boston.

So while I have a ton of stuff I could say about one of my favorite color combos (red & fuchsia), all I time to say is...

I'm headed out of town for a long vacation and I am not sure when/if I will be able to post, but try not to miss me too much and please follow my escapades through the South, Northeast & Central America on TWITTER.

Lastly, I am sooooo excited to properly show off this ring I purchased from CHICSHOP via the gift certificate I won on ZARNA'S blog.

I've put it to great use...

wearing: zara blazer, target ruffle tank, f21 jeans, michael kors watch, chicshop ring, steve madden heels, sally hansen polish in commender & chic

worn to: dinner at PARAGON & lounge hopping at SOMAR & THE DEN

j simpson

I started to lay my clothes out for my vacation and I realized I have yet to wear or show you, my fabulous Jessica Simpson heels.

If you follow me on TWITTER then you did get a sneak peak of them, and you know how excited and surprised I was when they showed up at my doorstep from a special someone ;)

Anyway, I need another pair of black shoes, really any shoes at all, like I need another dress or bag and so on and so forth.

But there was something about this fancy bronze crackle print heel and platform that made me think "got to have them!"

On a random side note, have you guys seen the H&M magazines? It's right up there with Lucky as one of my favorite's. Too bad it's only seasonal.

collars up

As most of you know, Blogger was acting up last week and all of your lovely comments were deleted from my previous post and I don't think they are coming back :( So I apologize for not acknowledging your comments/questions and visiting your blogs. Hopefully, they reappear at some point...

I love a popped collar, so clearly when I saw this jacket in J. Crew with the collar standing at attention, I had to have it.

That was 3 or 4 years ago and every spring since then I look forward to temperatures between 65 and 70 so I can wear it!

This particular day, I wore it to hang out in Chinatown and it was hot (rare for San Francisco) so I had to unbutton the jacket and let the collar down :(

Hear no evil, speak no evil, but I see all the evil. How cute are these little monkeys??

wearing: target tank, j crew jacket, f21 skirt, 9west boots, badgley mischka bag

worn to: lunch in chinatown at R&G LOUNGE, shopping in union square, etc

spotted with flowers

When I found out the next EVERYBODYEVERYWHERE challenge was florals, I knew I had a ton of options in my closet to choose from. Last summer, I think that's the only pattern I bought.

Every time I've worn this skirt I've worn it a different way, and you can see some of those ways HERE & HERE.

When I first put the polka dot tank on, and whipped my hair back & forth, I decided it was too much of a print clash for me.

That problem was quickly solved by throwing on a jean jacket. Who cares that I was sweating profusely for the rest of the day ;)

wearing: h&m tank, f21 jean jacket, thrifted belt and skirt, vintage coach bag, matiko wedges, michael kors watch, CHICSHOP ring (which i can't wait to feature...stay tuned)

worn to: brunch

loving life

This past week the b/f was in town, the weather was perfect, and I had no school work to do. Needless to say, I was and still am loving life.

One of the highlights of the week was taking my nephew to Alameda beach. It's certainly no South Beach, my nephew didn't like the sand or the water, but we had such a great time!! Love that kid :)

Also, love these earrings (they are my mom's) and this dress.

It has probably made an appearance on this blog more than any other item in my closet. I guess that's what happens when something is so effortless & timeless & in my humble opinion, beautiful :)

LOVING LIFE!!!!

wearing: fcuk dress, thrifted belt

worn to: church & alameda beach

top knot

If you follow me on TWITTER, you know that I was debating on whether the high bun is for me since I already look pretty young. Well, I finally wore it out and kinda loved it.

I think the fact that it wasn't so high (b/c I could only manage to get it to this height) and I wore a blazer somewhat matured the look, which is exactly what I needed :)

Anyway, I don't think it'll be a daily or weekly 'do for me, but I will incorporate it into my look from time to time.

Also, will be incorporating these velvet stirrups in my look more often. I've had them since last summer and have yet to put them to really good use...

wearing: eShakti earrings, h&m blazer, kenneth cole men's watch, thrifted belt, american apparel velvet stirrups, dolce vita heels

worn: dinner & lounge hopping